Hunters and Prey
by Cry Benihime
Summary: AU / Elena Gilbert has never been afraid of fighting, but this time she finds herself in the position of having to fight for the salvation of an entire species. When she had accepted a job to get close to Klaus, king of the supernatural community, she hadn't immagined that a man with an unimaginable secret would manage to shock her to her soul. A man with sky blue eyes.
1. Changing Times

**AN: Here I present you with my new story: Hunters and Preys! I had this idea running through my mind for quite some time and I just had to write it down. **

**As you'll see going on reading, I have been inspired for some things by The Originals. The story will in no way follow the plot of the TV show, but some of you might recognize some basics ideas. **

**Another source of inspiration as been an anime a friend of mine suggested me to watch: Shingeki no Kyojin. Now, for those of you who know what I'm talking about I have to say that you'll find no man-eating Titans here. Those of you who don't know what Shingeki no Kyojin is don't need to worry; what I took from that anime is simply the concept of feeling oneself as 'prey' while wanting to be the 'hunter'. I want to face in this fic the battle that those who feel like they have been enslaved have to face to go back to feel free again. The quote at the beginning comes from a translation of part of the Opening of the anime.**

**Those of you who have read my previous fic 'Game One' will notice that this chapter is a lot longer than those of that story. That is because I'm trying to step up my game writing a fic that will be more difficult to write for me. I'm sort of challenging myself. I'll try to update every week, but I can't know for sure if I'll always be on time, so bear with me. Let's see where I'll go!**

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><p>Hunters and Preys<p>

Chapter 1 – Changing Times

_Praying won't change anything,_

_what will change the present is_

_how ready you are to fight..._

_Guren no Yumiya – Linked Horizon_

The sun was shining brightly that morning in the small town of Mystic Falls. Men and women alike were walking toward their shops or workplaces, ready to start another day in their life. Soon children, accompanied by their parents, would reluctantly made their way toward the local schools. The town square would soon be filled with people from various committees, all intent on organizing the next big cultural event to take place in the small but lively town.

In the midst of all these people a young woman immersed in her own thoughts, slowly walked toward her future. She had no activity to mind for the next eight hours nor was she an employee in any of the local shops. She had long since finished her studies and had no intention of ever attending a single class in her life again. Even though she generally relished in town's events, this time she barely noticed the ongoing preparations. She was far too occupied to pay attention to such small things.

Stopping at a red light, waiting for the opportunity to cross the street, she observed the people around her. While these humans hurried about, all eager to start another day in their brief lives, she was about to embark in what was probably the most dangerous adventure of all. Sometimes she envied the normalcy of their lives. They didn't have to worry about being bitten by a werewolf on a full moon, nor did they risk being seriously burnt when picking flowers if they weren't careful. The sun was their precious ally, while for some of their species it was a dangerous, if not deadly, enemy.

Elena smiled bitterly. They didn't even imagine that coexisting with their normal, ordinary world, there was another one full of mysteries and supernatural events. They didn't know that vampires, witches, werewolves and all sorts of supernatural creatures walked alongside them every day. They didn't know what it felt like to run faster than the wind, they didn't experience the adrenaline high of a werewolf howling at the moon together with its brothers and sisters, they didn't feel the rush of magic surging through their bodies while chanting the next complicated enchantment.

But Elena did. She was a vampire. She had been for the past thirty-seven years of her life. Some days she relished in her powers. The ability to control minds surely was useful on occasion. Same could be said for her strength, speed and unnaturally fast healing. They were the kind of abilities that every human wished to have at least once in their life. The immortality bit could become troublesome after a while. At least that is what the older vampires had told her. She was still quite pleased of her eternal youthful appearance.

When the light finally became green, Elena swiftly crossed the street walking toward the residential area of Mystic Falls. There could be found only the villas and mansions of the most rich men and women of the town. That's exactly where she would be working from that day on, hopefully. She was supposed to meet her new boss in less than twenty minute at his Mansion. The Mikaelson Mansion.

Hurrying toward her destination she thought again about her mission. Yes, she wasn't simply looking for a job to get some money. God knew that she didn't have that kind of problems to worry about. No, things were quite more serious than that. She had on her shoulders the weight of the entire supernatural community.

What Elena had forgotten to mention was that, while it certainly wasn't bad being a supernatural creature, it wasn't easy living in their world lately. Once, their world had been a synonym of freedom, of life without rules except for one: don't let the humans know about their existence. Vampires used to prey on humans without fear. Some bled them dry, others decided to only drink what they needed, leaving the human alive. Sometimes thanks to compulsion Elena herself had drunk her share, simply erasing that particular memory from her victim's mind. However, she liked to leave them with the means to improve their lives. She would compel some to study harder, instead of wasting their years partying. To others she would tell to stop doubting themselves, others would suddenly find the courage to reveal their feelings to their crushes.

She knew that witches and werewolves did something similar, to the best of their abilities. A lot of werewolves she knew personally, had decided to work as rangers or had entered in the US Forest Service. While sometimes accident happened in which humans were killed, especially when the wolves were experiencing the first transformations, during their everyday life they liked to think that they re-payed their debts by safeguarding the environment, the animals that lived there and the people who found themselves in trouble while camping, or for whatever reason.

Witches tended to prefer to blend in with the humans, ending up mistaken for one themselves. They all lived in their separated clans, trying not to interfere with other witches businesses, and they absolutely refused to side with any other supernatural creature. They wanted nothing more than to be left to their own lives. They did like, however, to help those that they liked. More than one human had been miraculously healed, or had won the lottery just when it was needed more. They were small things, but since they all had to share the same world, they figured they had to help each other. It didn't matter that most people didn't know of their existence, most of them felt that they needed to help the humans, since sometimes they became collateral damage in this or that feud.

All this had changed twenty-five years ago. The night of the twenty-eight of June of twenty-five years before something unexplainable happened. All around the world witches had started to lose their magic. Even the most simple of enchantments had become unreachable even for the most skilled witches. They all had thought that what was happening was temporary, but during the following days they had discovered the awful truth: they could no longer practice magic. And without magic they had no way of finding out what exactly had happened.

Vampires and werewolves had not particularly cared about their problem. It was certainly regrettable that vampires could no longer count on witches to create daylight rings for them, but they could still survive. Most of them had lived in the darkness for so long that they had no problem continuing doing it. Werewolves had never really interacted with the witches to begin with, so while some of them were sympathetic with their plight, the majority of their community simply went on living as if nothing had ever happened. If only they had known what their indifference would lead to.

Six years after that night one of the Original Vampires, the one who had started the bloodlines of all vampires existing in the world, Klaus Mikaelson had come out of nowhere and had declared himself king of their world. No one had believed him. How could they? Even though he was an Original and a hybrid, how was he supposed to rule over their entire world? A pack of werewolves had dared to openly defy him, telling him that no werewolf would ever bow down to him. Klaus had only smiled. He had offered to everyone the possibility to swear loyalty to him right then and there. If they swore he would welcome them into his new kingdom, otherwise they would receive the proper punishment.

Some vampires had immediately knelt in front of him. Some of them respected him, knew what he was capable of and found him worthy of their allegiance. Others were simply afraid of him and had no desire to find themselves face to face with his anger. The rest, however, had simply gone away, refusing to consider him their king, a title that had no meaning in their world. There had never been a king of the supernaturals.

The following days everyone had to face the impossible. The daylight rings of all the vampires that had challenged him, stopped working leading their possessor to death in the sunlight. Those who didn't have a daylight ring, found themselves with the irresistible urge to walk into broad daylight. The werewolves that had refused to bow down to him, could no longer control their transformation: they started to turn even in the middle of the day, sometimes remaining stuck halfway in agony between man and wolf. No one knew how Klaus could do such a thing. No one was willing to challenge him further.

Thus Klaus became their king. During the following years everything changed. To prevent them from forming clans strong enough to defy him, Klaus ordered to everyone, vampires and werewolves alike, to not live in groups of more than five people. No more vampires were to be turned without his permission. No more werewolves were to trigger their curse if they didn't ask him to. If anyone disobeyed, they were immediately disposed of.

To make everyone follow these rules, Klaus created his own version of a guard corps. Vampires and werewolves alike who had sworn allegiance to him immediately. All of them had a tattoo on their right hand of a sun and a moon with fangs pointing toward each other: the symbol for hybrid so they always knew who was their master. It wasn't merely a decorative mark. No one knew how, but if they disobeyed his orders in any way that mark would also be the cause of their premature death.

They had all been enslaved. From proud hunters they had turned into scared preys.

That was where Elena came in. She was part of a secret society called Jäger created by Alaric Saltzman, a five hundred years old German vampire, that had the sole purpose of removing Klaus from his self appointed throne. Alaric had reunited every supernatural creature that wanted to be free of deciding their own future under the same cause. He had even been capable of bringing the witches on their side. It couldn't be a coincidence that Klaus had risen to power just six years after the loss of magic. Even the powers he displayed couldn't be normal. Somehow he had found a way to steal their magic and use it for his own purposes.

Elena's mission was simple: she had to become a part of Klaus's guard corps, find out what his secret weapon was and, if possible, destroy it. Why was she the one chosen for this particular mission? Well, let's say that she was the only one with even the slightest chance of success. She was determined, brave to the point of stupidity as the members of Jäger liked to say, quick of thoughts and simply put incredible at adapting to the situation. She would have to be bold if she wanted Klaus to notice her, but she also had to be careful if she wanted him to trust her. It was a fine line to walk but Alaric was sure she could manage it. She wasn't his right arm for nothing, despite her young age.

Elena was brought out of her grim thoughts by the sight in front of her. She was facing of the most majestic mansion she had ever seen: the white Mansion only had two stories, but what it lacked in height it made up in extension. From what she could see it had the form of a giant X with two small wings on the front, likely the old wings were the servants used to reside, and two bigger ones in the back. The pathway that lead to the front door was flanked by imposing trees only God knew how old. She could only imagine what the inside looked like.

The guards at the gate looked her up and down but let her pass when she showed them the little badge she had received when Klaus had decided to call her for a job interview. She slowly advanced toward the front door where she could see a woman waiting for her. Elena looked around in awe. She wasn't used to this kind of luxury. Her family hadn't been poor, but they certainly hadn't been this rich. She had lived half her life in her medium sized two stories house with her family, and the other half in underground facilities Alaric had had built for Jäger.

Once she had reached the front door, the woman waiting there silently motioned for her to follow her inside the Mansion. Once again Elena could do nothing more than gape at the sight in front of her: a white double staircase starting from the two sides of the hall led to the second floor, the marble floors where so clean you could actually see your reflection on them, above her was a splendid dome from which the bright morning light came streaming in. The woman quietly cleared her throat, shaking Elena out of her reverence.

They went through a door on the right which led into an enormous ballroom she could already imagine filled with people in elegant clothes, just waiting for the music to resound in it. They continued toward the opposite side of the ballroom, stepping out into the gardens of the Mansion. Elena immediately knew that, if she got the job, this would surely become her favorite place in no time. It was paradise. There was no other way to describe it. Elena didn't know if God really existed or if there was an afterlife for people like her, but she was absolutely certain that if it did exist it would look exactly like this place.

"Mr Mikaelson will be with you in a minute. Please remain here." Said the woman, formally.

Elena nodded to let her know she had been listening even if she was still intent on looking around. Once the catlike footsteps of the woman finally disappeared, Elena released a sigh of relief. The first step had been accomplished: she was inside the Mansion and apparently no one knew that she was a member of Jäger. All the members were always extremely cautious when it came to their identity, but one could never be too careful.

Suddenly she heard something she had not being expecting: a heartbeat. Elena furrowed her brows in confusion. Could it be that a human had manage to enter the Mansion without anyone noticing? The chances of that were so small she immediately dismissed the idea. Still, Klaus wasn't very fond of humans, he considered them bland. He didn't exactly think them inferior for to think that one had to have some kind of interest in them. He was simply indifferent to them. He only regarded them as a food source, nothing more nothing less. And yet what she was hearing was definitely a human's heartbeat.

When she turned in the direction of the sound, she paused, baffled. Thirty feet from her, sitting on a stone bench, there was a man. She could not see him clearly, since he was partly turned away from her, but he was clearly human. Elena didn't know how to explain it, but humans were always so easy to spot. It was like they radiated life from every pore while vampires always emanated this feeling of immobility. She kept observing him, his mere presence there puzzling. He was young, of that she had no doubt, probably in his early twenties and no older than twenty-eight. He had an healthy pale complexion, almost white, something that made the mop of black hair on his head stand particularly out. They were so black they reminded her of the wings of a crow.

When he changed position, crossing his legs, she saw that he had a drawing-block in hand. Sometimes he would raise his head to look at something somewhere on his left. He would then lower it again and his hand would lightly move over the white page, leaving black marks made with absolute precision. He was so focused on his drawing that he hadn't noticed her staring at him for the past five minutes. When she moved slightly to the side, she finally saw what he was sneaking glances at: perched on the branch of a nearby tree was a beautiful crow.

Elena continued to stare at that strange man. What was he doing there? Obviously he was drawing, but what was he doing at Mikaelson Mansion? Why would Klaus let a human live there? Was he the son of some important political figure that Klaus wanted to blackmail? Somehow Elena didn't think that was the case. He seemed relaxed, at home. He was clearly at ease where he was, like it was a normal thing for a human to live in a house full of vampires and werewolves. Elena had the feeling he really didn't feel threatened by the presence of so many different supernatural creatures mere feet away from him. It was like he was used to it.

Just when she was starting to move toward him to make his acquaintance a voice made her jump.

"You must be Ms Gilbert."

The man who had just spoken had a clear British accent, which gave him a sophisticated air. He had spoken in a casual way, nonetheless Elena could feel a shiver running up her spine. She knew exactly to whom that voice belonged: Klaus. She swallowed heavily then, steeling her nerves, she turned toward him.

As always she remained surprised by his appearance. He did not look like a threatening man. He was tall, but not so tall that you'd feel like he was towering over you. He wasn't particularly muscular though one could see the strength in his body by the way he moved with total confidence. His green eyes were serene, though she could see a glint of mischief in them. Last but not least, his curly short dirty-blond hair gave him a boyish look. No matter how many times she had seen him from afar, or in photos, Elena could never understand how someone who looked so charming and nice could be so cruel instead.

Since he was clearly waiting for an answer from her, she quickly replied, "Yes, Mr Mikaelson. I'm Elena Gilbert here for the job of security agent." She would have to start from there and then work her way up into his trusted group of minions.

He slightly nodded at her, then he looked behind her and raising his voice he said, "You should go inside. Elijah is waiting for you."

The man raised his head to look at Klaus. Though he seemed a little disappointed in having to stop his drawing, he quickly gathered his things and headed back inside. Everything had happened so quickly that Elena hadn't been able to catch a glimpse of his face. Why was she so disappointed? She shook her head and turned toward Klaus. He was regarding her intently.

"So you want to become one of my security agent." He said in an amused tone, clearly underestimating her because of her small body.

Her long straight brown hair, brown doe eyes and lithe form, even if with all the curves in the right places, had always made others underestimate her. Elena had grown used to it. Of people thought she was weak then so be it, she would take advantage of it. She didn't care what others thought of her, she knew what she was capable of and that was all that mattered. Ready to show him what she was made of she answered without a trace of fear.

"Yes. I believe I am the right person for this job." She said, confident. "I'm stronger than others think and I certainly don't scare easily. I bet I could stand out even in your Guard Corps." She knew she had to be bold if she wanted to make an impression on him.

Klaus softly laughed, shaking his head. "You are a feisty one. I like it." He said shaking his index finger in her direction. "We'll see how you'll do, Ms Gilbert."

Elena smiled, relieved that he seemed persuaded by her bravery. However, his voice suddenly dropped to a menacing rumble.

"You'll soon be aware of the fact that I don't like disappointments, so be sure not to let me down. I can easily find someone else to take your place." He looked her dead in the eyes, letting her know that he wasn't joking. "Although I have the feeling that won't be a problem for you." He finished in a lighter tone.

He gestured to someone inside the house to come out. The same woman who had greeted her at the front door appeared at his side as if coming out of thin air. Klaus regarded her with an amused stare, his eyes laughing at the speed with which she had come to cater to his needs.

"Show Ms Gilbert to her room." He ordered and then he went on his way, completely forgetting about their existence.

Elena followed the woman to her room on the second floor at the end of a long hallway. Once alone inside she let herself slowly slide to the floor, her back resting against the door. She ran her hands through her hair, setting her elbows on her knees. She had done it, she had gotten the job inside Klaus's Mansion. She had taken the first step toward her goal. Now was where things were going to get complicated, but she had to succeed. She had no choice. If she wanted the rest of their world to survive, to be free again, then she had to do this. For all their sake.


	2. Innocence

**AN: Here is the second chapter! Thank you for the reviews, the favorites and the followers. It's always nice to know that people like what I have to offer, especially since I'm trying to do my best with this new story.**

**Damon is a bit OOC in this fic but I promise that everything will be explained as we go on. I also have to tell you that the quotes at the beginning of every chapter are not random, I specifically selected them for their pertinence to the chapter, so read them carefully!**

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><p>Chapter 2 – Innocence<p>

_I want to protect innocent people from sin by locking them in cages, where the evil can't get to them._

_- Jarod Kintz -_

Elena woke up slowly. She felt completely rested, which was strange since she usually couldn't sleep a wink if she wasn't in her own bed. She had to admit though, that this bed felt like a cloud underneath her. It was so soft that she never wanted to leave it. She sighed deeply knowing that, weather she wanted to or not, she would have to get up. She couldn't waste time like this, not now. She stifled a yawn and finally opened her eyes.

The sun was streaming in from the window on the left side of the bed without reaching her eyes, sparing her from being blinded by its brightness first thing in the morning. Elena sat up, stretching her arms up in the air lightly smiling when her back popped satisfyingly. She let her arms fall back by her side and took in her room. The previous day she had been so relieved that she had succeeded in landing a job at the Mansion that, even though she had met with Klaus in the morning, she had felt exhausted. She had gathered enough strength to crawl under the covers and she had immediately fallen asleep, waking up the following morning.

The room was all light colors and wooden furniture. Exactly by the wall on the other side of her bed was a magnificent wardrobe, clearly handmade if the delicate ornaments on it were anything to go by. She would have to buy some clothes, since she didn't have that much with her. On the left of the wardrobe was a table with papers and pencils on it in case she wanted to write down something. To the right of the bed was a door that led into the built-in bathroom. It wasn't big but it had everything she could ever need. All in all this had to be the nicest room she had ever been in since the day she left her family house.

Deciding it was time for her to start her day, Elena threw the covers off of her and swung her legs to the side to stand up. After a little bit of stretching to get her blood pumping, _pun intended_ she smiled, she made her way into the bathroom. While taking a quick shower, she thought about her plans for the day. Klaus had said nothing about what she was supposed to do so she figured she could look around the Mansion a bit, get her bearings and maybe snoop around a bit to see if she found anything interesting. She didn't expect to find his secrets just lying around but one never knew.

She chose to wear a simple white tank top, with a light blue long cardigan over it, and a pair of jeans. To finish everything off she put on a pair of combat boots. When she checked herself in the mirror she idly wondered if the strange man from the day before would make an appearance. Maybe she could finally get to know him. Even though she was a fifty-five year old vampire she still felt young, probably because she had been turned when she was only eighteen. In a house full of Originals who had been alive for who knows how long exactly, it was nice to know that there was someone as young as her. Sort of.

Exiting her room, she found herself at the end of a long white hallway. Since all the doors she could see led to other bedrooms, she immediately went downstairs to start her exploration. The stairs she took to go downstairs led her to the beautiful hall that greeted everyone who came in through the front door. She already knew that the door on the right under the stairs opened into the ballroom, so she decided to go to the left this time, and make her way from there.

As she had already imagined there was nothing that could help here understand where Klaus's new powers came from, but she did find some interesting places. The first room she walked in had been a living room so big that she had felt a little too exposed at first. The wall opposite the double-doors through which she had entered was made entirely of glass, something that allowed to see the garden outside. On the left there was a pool-table, but she didn't care too much about it since she didn't know how to play. On the right side there were sofas and armchairs, all so comfortable looking that she actually entertained the idea of sitting down for a bit, and a giant TV set.

The second room had been a library so richly furnished that she had stood there with her mouth gaping. She had never seen so many books in just one room. She loved to read, something that her mother passionately encouraged in her, but unfortunately Jäger did not have a library. After all their purpose was to take down Klaus, not to spend their time immersed in fantasy worlds. The reality they lived in was the only one that mattered and if they didn't do something to change it, no one would. Elena decided that if she ever had the time, she would steal a couple of books to read in the evening. Surely Klaus wouldn't notice.

The inside pool had been an unexpected discovery. She doubted she would ever set foot in it, but she did like to know that at least, if she wanted to take the risk, she could actually swim around a bit. She softly smiled imagining Klaus in there. Somehow the paranoid Original did not seem the type of man who would like swimming and playing the dead to stay afloat. Although he wouldn't actually _be_ playing the dead since he actually _was_ dead but, whatever.

The last room she discovered, however, gave her the feeling of being the most important one. It wasn't overly big or grandiose like other rooms she had seen. The walls were painted in a soft beige and the floor was entirely covered by parquet, which gave the room a warm atmosphere. The nine-feet tall windows let the sun come in, illuminating it completely. There was no furniture in that room, except for the shining black piano in the center of it. It looked new, but Elena instinctively new that that wasn't the case. The owner probably took great care of it, since she saw that some of the keys were a little worn out.

She lightly pressed the palm of her hand on the surface of it, feeling the wood beneath her fingers. She knew nothing about pianos or how to play them, but she remembered how much her father loved to play for her mother. He was always smiling while his fingers rapidly moved over the keys, almost flying. Elena always thought that the music her father could create was pure magic. And maybe it really was, because those weren't just sounds. They were feelings, dreams and memories that her father played like a virtuoso.

Elena quickly wiped away the lone tear that was lining her cheek before turning to leave the room. Before closing the door behind her, she stole a quick glance at the piano wondering who the owner was. Somehow she couldn't imagine Klaus playing it. Maybe it was Elijah's, Klaus's older brother. He had always had a reputation for being a cultured man.

Satisfied with her discoveries for the moment, Elena tried to make her way toward the garden. She really wanted to take her time to see what that beautiful paradise had to offer. However, no matter how many turns she took, she did not find a single freaking door that led to her promised land. Taking the fifth right turn in a many minutes, she found herself in the entrance of a small living room. This one was nothing like the gigantic room she had first found that morning. There warmth here, comfort and something she couldn't quite define. It was lived in.

When she made to turn and go on with her search for the garden, she suddenly noticed that she wasn't alone. On her left, sitting on the windowsill with a book in hand, was the man she had seen the previous day. He was completely engrossed in the book he had prompt on one of his bent knees. She could not see the title of that book, but it had to be interesting since he hadn't even noticed her presence.

Elena decided to take advantage of his distraction to actually look at him. He was much closer to her today, and she could see so much more of him. He was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. She had been right on the account of his age, he couldn't possibly be older than twenty-eight. He wasn't bulky, but the way his dark green shirt stretched over his biceps let her know that he occasionally worked out. However, he didn't give her the impression of a man trying to gain some muscle for the sake of his own vanity.

His messy black hair looked incredibly soft and she caught herself imagining how it would feel to run her fingers through them. She shook her head, chiding herself for her silliness. She wasn't here to look at pretty men, she had a mission. _Focus, Elena_. When she brought her eyes back to him, he was still intent on reading. Once again Elena couldn't figure out the reason for his presence in this Mansion.

She threw a look in the hallway to see if there was anyone around. While visiting the Mansion, she had come across different people. A werewolf here, a couple of vampires there and two or three servants. Some of them had nodded in her direction, others had blatantly ignored her. She didn't know if it was because she was the new one or because everyone she had met, except the servants, had been a man from the Guard Corp. She always checked their right hand to see who she had in front of her. She figured she could try and memorize their faces since it might come in handy in the future.

When she saw that no one was around, she decided to take her chance and approach the man.

"Hey," she said in his direction.

The man jumped, startled, and raised his head turning in her direction. Elena held her breath when she saw his eyes. They were beautiful, the most amazing shade of blue she had ever seen. They reminded her of the sky on a sunny morning. But it wasn't their color that really took her breath away. No, it was what she could see in them that really amazed her: innocence. Those were the eyes of a boy, not a man. There was no trace of malice in them, there was only innocence and something painful that had Elena internally grimace in sympathy. Loneliness.

While she had been looking at him, the man had done the same to her. He had closed his book and she could now see what he had been reading. It was an old, battered copy of _Gone With The Wind_. Interesting choice. He still had to say a word and Elena was starting to wonder if perhaps he was mute. He looked not exactly afraid of her, more like uncomfortable. _A deer caught in the headlights._ Elena decided to put him out of his misery.

"I'm Elena," she kindly said extending her hand for him to shake.

The man simply looked at it before raising his eyes to meet hers. Every now and then he would look at the door, as if waiting for someone to come in. she couldn't decide if he looked more hopeful or alarmed.

"If you're wondering whether anyone is around to come to your rescue, I'm afraid you're out of luck." She teased him with a smile, hoping to rouse some kind of reaction in him. "Looks like you'll have to face me all on your own."

"I'm not scared." Blurted out the man, outraged.

"Ah," breathed Elena exaggerating her surprise. "He talks!"

The man furrowed his brows sending a glare her way. Elena was sure that he was trying to be threatening but in reality he looked kind of cute. It was clear that he had never been truly mean to anyone, so he didn't really know how to appear angry toward her. She tried to reign in her smile, not wanting to hurt his pride. She was trying to befriend him, not to offend him beyond repair.

"Of course I talk, I'm not mute." He grumbled under his breath, swinging his legs to the side to sit properly facing her.

Elena giggled at his grumpiness. The man blushed at her response and once again looked in the direction of the door with nervous eyes. Elena noticed that and frowned. Was he scared that someone was going to come in? Or was he simply judging how quickly he could leave the room if he acted now? He was so strange and Elena found herself wanting to know everything about him.

"I don't bite you know?" She spoke lightly, secretly smiling at the pun she had accidentally made. She didn't know if he was aware that she was a vampire, but she figured that he probably wouldn't mind since apparently he lived with a bunch of her kind without batting an eye.

When she didn't receive any kind of response from him, she tried again.

"So," she draw out, "I told you my name but you still haven't told me yours?" She asked, hinting that it was his turn to present himself.

He seemed taken aback, as if she had just asked him to do something impossible. He squirmed under her scrutiny where he was seated, fingering the book he kept clutched in his hands. Elena was puzzled by his behavior. She had just asked for his name, not for his firstborn! Surely he could tell her who he was. She decided to try again.

"If you don't tell me I'm gonna have to guess and, trust me, I have a wild imagination so you could end up with a pretty awful name." She smiled, hoping to ease his nerves.

He seemed on the verge of saying something but in the end he just clenched his jaw and lowered his gaze. Now she was just plain curious. It looked like he wanted to talk, but something held him back. She knew she had been right when she had seen loneliness in his eyes, earlier. That kind of loneliness was painful, it was the kind that crept out of nowhere and took hold of you even if you were surrounded by thousands of people. She knew he must be starved for friends, so what could be so important that he could not reach out to her?

"You shouldn't be here." He whispered looking at her with a hint of regret. "If they see you talking to me, you'll be in trouble."

In trouble? Just because she was talking to him? Elena couldn't believe this. Who was this man? He had to be extremely important to Klaus, if she couldn't even talk to him. Just when she opened her mouth to ask him what exactly he meant when he said 'trouble', another voice interrupted them.

"There you are, Damon." Said a soothing voice.

Elena turned coming face to face with the newcomer. He was as tall as Klaus, dressed impeccably in a three piece black suit that made him look out of place in that room. He was keeping his hands in his pockets in a relaxed fashion, yet there as something dangerous in him. He looked calm, confident and slightly curious as he regarded her with a slightly raised eyebrows. Elena knew exactly who he was, Elijah. She knew what he was capable of but she also knew that he didn't like violence and, contrary to his brother Klaus, he knew what kindness and honor were.

"And who might you be, Miss..." He trailed off.

"Gilbert. I'm Elena Gilbert." She answered immediately. Even if he wasn't a raging lunatic like his brother, she didn't want to make him impatient. "Mr Mikaelson hired me yesterday."

"Then you should go talk to my brother so he can tell you what your responsibilities are." He kindly said, but Elena knew he was giving her an order.

She lightly bowed her head and, after glancing at Damon who still looked pained, she said, "Goodbye, Damon." With a soft smile. She started walking toward the door. Before she could exit, however, Elijah called her.

"Miss Gilbert." He said, making her turn toward him. "I'll advise you to keep your distance from Damon in the future." He said. "For your own sake."

Elena heavily swallowed and left the room.

Elijah turned to Damon and noticed that he had been following her with his eyes until she had disappeared out of the room. No matter how much he cared for the young man, Elijah still had to say what he had had to say thousands of time now. That didn't mean that he reveled in squishing the light hope he saw in his blue eyes.

"Damon." Sighed Elijah, making him look at him in the eyes. "I don't need to remind you that you cannot trust her."

"I know, Uncle Elijah." Damon softly said. "I know I can only trust you, Klaus and Rebekah but..." He trailed off, looking in the direction of the door. "What if she's just a girl? What if she only wants to be my friend?" He weakly smiled at him, trying to win him over. "She seemed nice and genuinely interested in me."

Something inside of Elijah clenched. He knew Damon felt lonely, knew that he only wanted someone to talk to who wasn't thousands of years old. But he couldn't allow Damon to get to close to her, especially because they didn't know anything about the girl. Damon had to be protected and Elijah only regretted that there wasn't another way to do that. He didn't want to cause him any more pain, but he had no choice.

"You could be right, Damon. But what if she is a spy? What if she wants to hurt you or this family?" He asked stepping closer to him and sitting down on Damon's left. "We protect each other, you know that. It's the only way to survive in this world."

Damon nodded sadly, knowing that Elijah was right. But he wanted so badly someone he could talk to. Anyone at all. He loved Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah with all his heart but he couldn't talk to them about everything. He knew that Klaus would get angry if he told him that he wanted to go outside to see what the world was like. He knew that Elijah would offer him comforting words but would be firm in telling him why he couldn't leave. And Rebekah would tell him of all the wonderful places she had visited in her long life and while he would soak up everything she said, picturing those places in his mind, in the dead of night when he would think about her words he would feel even worse.

Sometimes he hated this life. He wished he was someone else, someone free to go wherever he pleased. But then he remembered how he owed everything to Klaus. He had taken him in when his entire family had been killed, treated him like he was his own son. He gave him a new family, a home and protection from those who wanted to hurt him. All Klaus asked of him was to follow his orders and to trust him.

"You're probably right." Damon said mournfully. "After all, who could ever want to be my friend?"

"Now, now Damon." Immediately intervened Elijah. "Don't talk like that. You know that's not true."

When Damon looked at him dubiously Elijah went on. "One day you're going to find someone who will love you very much, and you will be unbelievably happy."

"How can you be so sure?"

"It happened to me." Answered Elijah with a soft smile. "I spent thousands of years on this earth and finally I found that one person made for me." He lovingly thought of Hayley, the werewolf that had rapidly become the most important woman in his life. Even if they hadn't met under the best circumstances, everything worked out in the end.

"Now," he suddenly said, pulling Damon out of his grim thoughts, "what do you say you and I go and play that piano?"


	3. Those Who Suffer In Silence

**AN: I present to you the third chapter of this story! It was a bit hard to write but I thinks it came out right in the end. **

**As always I want to thank you all for even just reading this fic! You're all amazing and I wouldn't have the courage to post these chapters if it weren't for you. So, feel free to let me know what you think of my ideas even with just a line.**

**PS: Hang in there, my fellow Delena fans! We all know they're endgame, it's just a matter of holding on!**

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><p>Chapter 3 – Those Who Suffer In Silence<p>

_There are people in this world who prefer solitude. But there is no one who can withstand it. _

_Makarov – Fairy Tail _

Elena looked at the grim-looking sky above her and sent a quick prayer to whoever was listening to please wait at least an hour before allowing the rain to finally come. She had almost finished her hour-long walk along the border of the Mikaelson property. To say she had remained speechless at the amount of land they owned, was the understatement of a lifetime. When Klaus had explained to her that, since she was now a member of the security, she had to regularly patrol the perimeter of their land, she had thought that it wouldn't take her more than twenty minutes. To be honest, she could have made the entire thing in twenty minutes. If she was allowed to use vampire speed. Which she wasn't. Apparently Klaus didn't want the inconvenience of a human possibly seeing her.

While she continued to do her job, Elena thought back at the week that had already gone by. She was starting to get used to this job. She only had to patrol the border and, when it was required of her, the interior of the Mansion with the exception of the bedrooms of the Mikaelson family, which apparently included Damon. All in all, it was a pretty easy job that left her with a lot of free time. There were twenty security guards employed by Klaus, and who knew how many members of the Guard Corp, so their shifts were accommodating.

She was starting to get to know the people who worked in the Mansion. They weren't that bad, but no one ever talked about anything too personal. She knew nothing of their past, if they had family or what their interests were. They exchanged pleasantries but that was all. She had no friend here, which only made her miss the other members of Jäger more and more everyday. They were her family and she missed them.

Speaking of family, she had finally met the remaining member of the Mikaelson family: Rebekah. Elena frowned thinking about their first meeting. She was not sure what to think of her. On the one hand, she was an Original, Klaus's sister so she could not _not_ consider her an enemy. On the other hand she had noticed something in her eyes, something familiar: longing. For what she was not sure, but a part of Elena told her that Rebekah was not so bad once you glanced underneath the layers of anger and insecurities that followed her everywhere. She had also showed a surprising amount of protectiveness over Damon, Elijah had clearly told her about Damon and her talking, ordering her to stay the hell away from him.

Elena had reached the end of her shift and begun to walk toward the Mansion. Since she was feeling a little thirsty, she decided to make a stop in the kitchen to grab a blood bag. If there was one thing that she appreciated in this situation, was how easy it was to have a drink of blood. Once she had always had to procure blood bags for herself, in those periods in which she tired of hunting humans, now she could easily find a bag in the refrigerator. While she rooted around to find a bag of 0-, she felt someone entering the kitchen.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Jokingly said a British accented voice, seriously what was it with British accents in this house?. "If it isn't Elena Gilbert."

Elena straightened her back with a blood bag in hand, and turned toward the newcomer. A slim man was leaning against the door of the kitchen, a smirk adorning his lips. His brown eyes were maliciously smiling and his short, spiky hair gave him a boyish look. He gave off an air of carelessness that at first had disturbed her. He was the kind of guy who didn't take orders from anyone, so she couldn't figure out why he was accepting to be one of Klaus's minions. He seemed oddly out of place.

"When will stop trying to sneak up on me, Enzo?" She said with a small smile, opening the blood bag and taking a sip.

"I'm just testing your abilities, love. After all you are our newest member of the staff."

He moved toward the refrigerator, opened it and retrieved a bag. As he did so, the tattoo on his right hand became perfectly visible to Elena. When she had found out he was a member of the Guard Corp she had been thrown off. He was nothing like the brutes she had seen around. He wasn't a saint, far from it, but he was actually a decent guy if a little flirty. She guessed, if they had met under other circumstances they could have been friends. She chuckled, thinking that Alaric would have been of the opposite opinion.

"What are you laughing about?" Asked her Enzo, pouring his blood bag in a tumbler.

"I was thinking that you're the kind of guy with whom a friend of mine would butt heads." She answered with a fond smile.

"How so?" Wanted to know Enzo, curious.

Elena sipped her blood in silence for a moment. She had to be careful, he was always a member of Klaus's Guard, therefore their enemy, and Alaric was their leader. She had to choose her words wisely.

"You know, he's the kind of man that always wants to do the right thing. He follows the rules and makes other follow them themselves. He's honorable, stern but just." She said.

Enzo smiled while moving toward a cabinet nearby filled with liquor. He opened it and started moving bottles around, searching for the flavor of the day. He liked to switch things up a bit once in a while.

"He sounds a lot like Elijah." He pointed out, opting in the end for a bottle of his old friend, aka bourbon.

"I guess he does." Elena herself had noticed it lots of times. "He does like bourbon so, you know..." She drifted off, gesturing with her hand in his direction.

"A redeeming quality, at last." Joked Enzo pouring a finger of bourbon in his blood. Elena did not know how he could drink that thing.

They remained in silence for a while drinking their blood. Everything was quiet around them, the only sound were the birds chirping outside. In the end Enzo put down his glass and look out of the window in front of him. He seemed lost in the past.

"I have a lot of respect for Elijah." He spoke.

"Why?" Asked Elena, not missing her chance of knowing something more about this peculiar vampire. Plus any information on Elijah could be useful.

Enzo didn't answer immediately, he seemed unsure if telling her his reasons for respecting Elijah, were wise or not. He knew nothing of her, except that she looked like the kind of person that could be trusted, even if she was hiding something from all of them. In the end he shrugged and decided to take a chance.

"Have you ever heard of the Augustine Society?" He asked her, still looking in front of him.

"Can't say I have." Answered Elena, finishing her blood bag and throwing it away in a trash can.

"They were this organization created by humans who knew about us." Enzo finally turned toward her. "Long story short, they captured vampires to experiment on them and find a way to use our healing ability to develop new medicines." He said with a sneer. "I personally think that they just got off torturing vampires."

Elena couldn't believe that she had never heard of this organization. This was huge! Humans that knew of their existence? Vampires being tortured? She made a mental note to ask Alaric about it, when she had the chance. For now she focused on Enzo and his story.

"I had been their captive for seventy years when Elijah finally arrived." He softly said. "I'll spare you the gory details of Elijah's way of making me escape." He smirked in her direction, trying to cover up his pain. "I'll just say that I owe everything to that man, and since the day he saved me I have sworn loyalty to him and only him, for the rest of my life."

He eyed her intently as if he wanted to gauge her reaction to his words. The words he had said kept replaying in her head. He was loyal to Elijah, not to Klaus. She could use this information, maybe if she ever were in danger he could help her. But at the same time she had to tread carefully because if Elijah ever told him to kill her, she knew that Enzo wouldn't object to it. There was only one thing that didn't quite add up.

"What about that?" She pointed the tattoo on his right hand.

Enzo lowered his eyes to it, moving his hand as if to better look at it. "This...this is just a side effect, I suppose."

Elena accepted his answer for what it was. He wouldn't tell her why he had accepted to become one of Klaus's lap dogs, so she had to treat him as a potential ally. The thought of his alliance to Elijah led her inevitably to Damon. She wondered if they were friends, if he knew something about the lonely young man.

"What do you know about Damon?" The words left her mouth before she had time to think them over.

Enzo raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking?"

"It just seems like he's always alone." She simply said.

It was the truth. In the last week she'd had the chance to see him around, and she had noticed something: no matter where he was, he was always alone. When he walked through the hallways, everyone tried to stay as far away from him as possible. When he sat at the table for lunch or dinner, no one except for the Mikaelsons, and sometimes Enzo, dared to sit next to him. They treated him as if he had the plague. As if he was someone to be scared of.

Damon always looked as if he couldn't care less what they did, but she had been looking at him. He noticed what they were doing, the way they would keep him at arm's length, how they wouldn't even look at him. And he suffered because of it. For a moment his eyes would be filled with pain, then he would cover it up as if he was used to it, as if it were normal. Elena couldn't accept that, no one should feel that way. She didn't even know why she cared so much for him, but she knew that she didn't want him to suffer anymore. It was completely irrational to feel this way toward someone she had met only a week before, and yet that was how things were.

"I'll be honest with you, I like you." Said Enzo getting closer to her. "And because I like you I will tell you this: it'd be better for you not to befriend him. Klaus doesn't like it when strangers get too close to him and those who dare to defy him disappear quickly. I'd hate to see you go, because I think you could be a breath of fresh air around here."

There it was again: everyone was always telling her how it was dangerous to become close to Damon. There was only one reason why Klaus would be so protective of him. Somehow, Damon had to know something important. Maybe he knew what Klaus's secret weapon was. Elena shook her head, that was impossible. If Damon had somehow discovered it, Klaus would have simply killed him. Yet, Damon was still alive.

"Why are you being so kind to me? Why were you so ready to share your past with me?" Asked Elena trying to move on from her current train of thoughts. She would ponder over it lately, when she had the time.

Enzo carelessly shrugged his shoulders. "As I said, I like you. Plus I feel like taking a risk with you." He looked her in the eye, his voice getting huskier. "Maybe one day you'll remember my kindness and you'll be more prone to helping me."

"Helping you with what?"

"Who knows."

After that cryptic answer, Enzo left the kitchen going back to his duties.

Elena watched him go, feeling more confused than ever. Why did everyone in this Mansion have to be so mysterious about things? She really wished they would just tell her exactly why Damon was off limits. If they had a good reason she would feel more inclined to obey. Who was she kidding? Even if they had the best reason in the world, she would still want to be his friend. It had always been like this: if she could help someone, she did. End of the story. And Damon needed all the help she could give him. She knew what it felt like to be lonely and she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy.

Feeling more determined than ever, Elena exited the kitchen and started looking for Damon. To hell with their damned warnings and threats and whatever they wanted to tell her. She would find Damon and she would be his friend, period. At the same time she would find Klaus's freaking weapon and she would destroy it. This way everyone was happy. She knew it was risky to get on Klaus's bad side over an ordinary human man, she could compromise her whole mission, but she had to do something. No matter how much things had changed since she had been turned, she still had a conscience, she still had morals she had to live up to. She refused to forget everything her parents had thought her just because of the reality she had found herself having to live in. Her mother had taught her that if you could help someone, then you had to because maybe no one else would and then you'd have to live with the knowledge that someone, out there, could have been saved and you hadn't done anything for him.

So that's exactly what she would do. She would help him, because no one else would. Plus, if she was being honest with herself, she felt kind of lonely herself what with being so far from her family and deep into the lion's den. So this was a win-win scenario in her opinion. In the end, if she succeeded, everyone would be happy. She chose to not listen to that part of her mind telling her that, if she really succeeded, then maybe the Originals would end up dead and Damon would have lost his family, since it seemed that Elijah and Rebekah at least cared about him. She was not so sure about Klaus. She had not witnessed any interactions between the two of them so far.

When she rounded the corner that led into the gigantic leaving room, she stopped. There he was, sitting on the sofa watching the television. Elena rolled her eyes when she noticed that no one else was in the room, she didn't know why she expected things to be different. He was watching what appeared to be a documentary about the most exotic places in the world. She found those kind of programs to be boring, but he was watching the images that flashed in front of him with such rapt attention, that she wondered if maybe he wanted to visit those places. For the millionth time she wondered how it was possible that no one wanted to be close to him. She found nothing dangerous about him, she actually found him to be kind of adorable. She shook her head to clear her mind, surprised by the way her thoughts always seemed to wander that way when it came to him.

She threw a look in the hallway. Good, no one was coming. Seizing the opportunity she approached him in silence, secretly wanting to make him jump like she had last time. When she had almost reached the right arm of the sofa he was sitting on, she softly cleared her throat, smiling to herself when he did jump at the sudden noise. He turned toward her so quickly that she wondered if he hurt his neck. He regarded her with wide eyes, partly for the surprise of someone approaching him and partly for the fear of someone seeing them. Just like she expected him to, he immediately looked over the back of the sofa, to make sure no one was in the room.

"Don't worry, I already checked the hallway and no one is coming." She informed him with a smile.

He looked her in the eyes, not sure what she wanted from him. Elena smiled when she heard him hold his breath as she decided to sit next to him on the sofa. She thought that the casual approach would be the best way to go in this situation. Damon was clearly on edge so the first thing to do was let him calm down a bit. She looked at the TV screen, where a panoramic of the Antarctic was been shown. In the next shot a bunch of penguins were walking around in that funny way of theirs.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" She asked him without turning away from the screen. "It makes you wonder how they can survive in such an hostile habitat."

When she didn't receive a response she just continued to watch the documentary. It didn't matter if at first he didn't talk, she had all the time in the world. If he thought he could just stay silent until she went away, than he had another thing coming. When Elena set her mind on something she would achieve it, so he was going to become her friend whether he wanted to or not. She would just wait until he would finally give in, and he would she was sure of it. They were currently showing how penguins hunted their prey while rapidly swimming underwater that she heard him.

"It's because they stay together." Softly said Damon, watching her to gauge her reaction.

"What?" She said, taken aback. She was prepared to wait for a long time and instead he had immediately chosen to talk, so she had been unprepared.

Damon nodded toward the television. "You wondered how they could survive in such an hostile habitat. It's because they stay together. When it's too cold, they huddle close together so that they can fend off the freezing winds."

"Well, I did not know that so thank you." She smiled in his direction, turning back toward the screen. She did, however, notice the small smile he send her direction when he thought she couldn't see him.

They remained in companionable silence for a while, just watching the documentary in front of their eyes. Well, Damon watched it, she preferred to dedicate her time to subtly watching him. He was really the most handsome man she had ever seen, and she let herself wonder, just for a moment, what it would be like to know him, every part of him. After ten minutes he finally relaxed against the back of the sofa, probably understanding that she was not leaving anytime soon. While he seemed to have come to terms with her presence, he did throw glances at her once in a while when she moved her attention to the screen. He was clearly waiting for her to tell him what her intentions were. Elena had no intention of telling him, she wanted him to be the first to approach her.

After thirty minutes spent like that, the silence interrupted sometimes when one of them wanted to make an observation on something they found interesting, it looked like Damon was finally starting to reach the end of his patience. She had seen him open his mouth to say something a couple of times, only to close it immediately after.

"Why are you here?" He suddenly blurted out.

Elena turned to look at him. "What do you mean? I'm just watching the TV."

Damon narrowed his eyes at her, not convinced. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to watch some TV and when I saw you here, all alone, I thought we could spend some time together."

Damon furrowed his brows, apparently not understanding how someone could want to spend some time with him of all people. Things like that didn't happen in his experience. Elena's heart almost broke, seeing him doubt her intentions. It was obvious that he wanted someone to be with, but at the same time doubted her when she told him that that was exactly what she wanted to do.

"I already told you that you'll get in trouble if anyone sees you with me. Klaus doesn't like it when people get too close to me." He said with something akin to resignation.

"What Klaus doesn't know won't hurt him, right?" She asked him with a secretive smile.

Damon's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?" He asked outright.

Elena sighed turning completely toward him, raising her left leg to tuck it underneath her on the sofa. Her change in position had her now with her left knee pressed against his right thigh, something that Damon had instantly noticed, his eyes snapping to the point where they were physically touching.

"Listen, I get it. You're off-limits for some reason that I don't even know. I don't care about it, Damon. I just know that I'm far away from my family, in a place completely new for me where I don't know anyone. So right now, I'm feeling kinda lonely and you look like the most approachable person around here."

"You are alone?" He asked, a glint of sympathy appearing in his eyes.

"I am, Damon." She said honestly, knowing that she had struck a chord. She decided to push her luck. "And I think you of all people understand what that feels like. I've been watching you, and you're always alone even when you're surrounded by people. You can't tell me that you like that."

For a second he looked ready to bolt at her words. He should push her away, tell her that to leave him alone. Elijah had repeated countless of times to him, that he could not trust anyone and past experiences had shown him that he was right. There were people out there that wanted to hurt him, people that would stop at nothing to get to him. Yet this girl, this beautiful girl with her brown doe eyes, was offering him what he constantly craved: a friend. He could finally talk to someone without them making him feel like a freak. He could get to know her and she could get to know him, and maybe she would like him, maybe she wouldn't be afraid of him like everyone else. But should he take the risk?

Elena, seeing his indecision, decided to act. She took his hand, mentally moaning at the softness of his skin, and squeezed it. When Damon's eyes jumped to her face in surprise she gave him the final push.

"We can be friends, Damon. We just have to be careful and no one will find us out. Wouldn't you like that?"

Damon liked his dry lips. He didn't know if what he was about to do was the right thing, but there was something in her that made him want to trust her against his better judgment. He squeezed her hand with as much strength he had before saying the words that would change his life, forever.

"I would like that very much."


	4. Submit To Live

**AN: Here is the next chapter! Enjoy my awesome readers and let me know what you think of this story, so that I know if something needs to be changed!**

**PS: Since some of you expressed their fear that I would abandon this story, I want to assure you that I will finish it. If I'm slow at updating it's because this story is harder to write than my previous one.**

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><p>Chapter 4 – Submit To Live<p>

_Despite all my rage  
>I am still just a rat in the cage. <em>

_Billy Corgan_

"And that is how I discovered that you should never, ever, cross old ladies with bags full of cat food."

Damon's laugh resounded powerfully in the empty library. Elena had been telling him stories of the funniest moments of her life, trying, of course, to leave out the most embarrassing ones. Despite having to hide their friendship, the two of them had become quick friends. During the past three weeks they had been telling each others stories from their past: how Elena had once tried to convince her brother Jeremy to try out with her for the Amazing race, how Damon had discovered his passion for drawings and music. If Damon, at first, had seemed a man of few words now he was the exact opposite. He talked and talked of everything and nothing, telling her even the most silly thing that came to his mind. It was like a dam inside of him had been tore down.

Elena enjoyed listening to his every word. His eyes were always full of happiness when he talked to her. The more time she spent with him, learning new things about him, the more she liked him. There was something special about Damon. She didn't know how to put into words what she felt when she was with him, but she was quickly becoming addicted to his presence. The same could be said about Damon. Even though he had been reluctant to start this friendship between them, and was still anxious for the first moments they spent together always carefully hiding from others, he couldn't deny that he was happy. In fact, he was happier than he had ever been.

There was only one thing that Elena found a little bit unsettling: he never talked about his past. The day they had reached the agreement on their friendship, they had spent some time talking. At first they just shared superficial things, the usual things like 'what's your favorite movie?', 'have you read this book?' and things like that. As time went by, however, Elena had started to open up a bit to him about her past. She had told him a bit about her parents and her brother Jeremy, who had gotten married twelve years ago and now had two beautiful babies, about her friends and the people important to her. She had of course omitted everything regarding Jäger and any member of the organization. She had no idea how much he knew about things in their world, so she decided to play it safe.

Damon, however, never talked about his past. Every time she tried to ask him something on what had brought him to where he was, the only human in a Mansion full of vampires and werewolves, he was quick to change the subject. He always got nervous when she inquired about his relationship with the Mikaelson family. Elena knew he was hiding something, whether it had been forbidden to him to talk about these thing or he simply didn't want to share, but she had no idea how to show him that he could trust her to keep his secrets whatever they might be. She also didn't want to miss the opportunity to learn something more on Klaus.

A part of her was ashamed at the mere thought of using Damon's need for companionship to gain information. She had never liked manipulating people, it was something that simply wasn't in her nature. But another part of her reminded her that she needed to know more, that maybe he knew something of vital importance. Something that could save all of them. When she put the needs of Damon against the needs of their whole world, she knew that she had to choose the latter. Yet, there was something that made that decision so much harder. Elena had realized quickly that she really liked Damon. If they had met in another time, in another place, she was sure that they could have had a future together. As things were, thought, she had to remind herself why she was in that Mansion. She would have to hide that glimmer of a feeling, stomping on it before it could properly grow.

And so every time Damon changed the subject, tried to distract her from her original question, she let him. To be honest she couldn't resist answering him when he asked her something, looking at her with those breathtaking eyes. Mostly he asked her about all the places she had visited. He asked if it was true that there were mountains so high that it looked like they were piercing the sky. He wanted to know is she had ever seen the aurora borealis, is she had ever slept with only the stars as her blanket, if she had seen the sun rise on the sea or the pink sunset at the foot of the Dolomites. So she answered him: yes, it was true that some mountains were so high that they pierced the sky and, when you went higher than the clouds, it felt like you were in another world; no she had never seen the aurora but she'd like to; she had slept under the stars and it had felt amazing; she had once seen the sun rise on the sea and it looked like the water had turned into fire but unfortunately she had never seen that pink sunset he had mentioned, was it even possible to have a pink sunset?

He was always so eager to know everything about the world that she started to wonder if he had ever left that Mansion. Surely the Mikaelson could not be so cruel as to keep him caged inside, never allowing him to leave. She wondered how he had never gone mad, or how he used to keep himself occupied before she had arrived to keep him company. Her heart missed a beat thinking about a little boy, all alone, who wanted nothing more than to see what the world looked like. She caught herself thinking that she wanted to show him. She wanted to be the one to make his dreams come true.

When Damon was finally able to catch his breath he smiling said, "How did a powerful vampire like you manage to be beaten by a fragile old lady?"

Elena wasn't even surprised that he knew she was a vampire, really she should have expected that. However, before she could try to defend her honor explaining him that old ladies were far more strong that he imagined, they were interrupted by a third voice.

"I would like to know that to." Said Klaus lightly, with a small smile on his face.

Elena could feel her blood turn into ice in her veins. This was exactly what they wanted to avoid: Klaus finding out about them. When she chanced a look at Damon she saw that he had a similar expression to hers. His eyes were wide and he seemed fearful of what Klaus would do now that he had seen them so close, laughing together as if they were old friends. They had to think quickly, otherwise they risked getting into serious trouble. At least, Elena was pretty sure that she would end up dead if what several people had told them was true.

"What are you doing her, Miss Gilbert?" Asked Klaus in a calm voice that fooled no one. He was like the calm before the storm.

Elena wracked her brain searching for a plausible excuse. She could think of nothing other than the fact that she was probably going to die, without having accomplished anything. She was supposed to find a way to beat Klaus, she had to save everyone. She couldn't believe that everything was going to end like this. It all seemed so futile now. She would never see her friends, her family, again. It suddenly came to her mind that she would never see Damon again, and somehow the thought left her feeling lost.

Just when she saw Klaus start moving toward her, Damon intervened. "Miss Gilbert was just asking if she could borrow some books."

Klaus stopped in his track and turned toward him, scrutinizing him as if trying to find out if he was telling the truth. Elena, much like Klaus, was looking at him with wide eyes full of wonder. He looked calm, relaxed not at all man that was betting everything on the credibility of his lie. She couldn't help wondering if he knew what he was doing or if he was just improvising. She prayed that Klaus would believe him, with all her heart.

"Miss Gilbert told me that she really likes to read and, since I've read every book in this library, I thought I could help her." Continued Damon in a steady voice. "It's not a problem, right?"

Klaus's eyes narrowed while he kept his gaze on the young man. It looked as if he was debating whether to believe what the human was telling him while, at the same time, having no reason not to believe him. Elena decided that if they were going to make it, she had support Damon's lie the best she could. And that meant behaving submissively toward Klaus. She swallowed heavily before talking.

"It's the truth, Mr Mikaelson." She said in a soft voice, making Klaus move his intense eyes to her. "I really wanted to know if I could borrow a book to read in the evening and, since Damon was the only one in the room, I thought of asking to him. I'm terribly sorry if I stepped over the line. I promise it won't happen again."

What followed, were some tense moments in which Klaus moved his eyes from her to Damon and back again. From all the information they had on him, Alaric had told her that Klaus tended to be extremely paranoid. That, together with his anger issues and a temperament he seemed unable to curb, made for an explosive mix. If he bought the lie they had just fed him, Elena would get to live another day. If not...she didn't want to dwell on that. She did not worry for Damon, somehow knowing that Klaus was not a threat to him. In fact it looked like it was Damon worrying for her, and he had all the rights to.

Finally Klaus looked at her with an eerie smile on his lips. "I'm sure it was just an honest mistake, right Miss Gilbert?"

Elena immediately nodded, relaxing a bit now that the worst seemed to have passed. It looked like her short life would get to go on.

"I would like for you to go into town, Miss Gilbert." Went on Klaus, as if nothing had happened. "We are getting short of blood bags, so you need to go to the hospital and remind doctor O'Brien that we'll soon need a new batch."

Elena quickly nodded before turning to leave the room, not wanting to test Klaus's kind mood. When she had almost reached the door, he called her name, making her flash back to when Elijah had done the same. Somehow, she knew that Klaus's words would be much more threatening than his brother's. She slowly turned toward the ancient vampire, keeping a cool facade to hide the fear she could feel rushing through her.

"Feel free to borrow any book you might want, far from me to forbid you to broaden your culture." He said with an easy going attitude. "After all, life is too short to miss such a chance."

"I'm very grateful, Mr Mikaelson." Elena gritted out before quickly leaving the room.

Damon relaxed when he saw Elena leave the room unharmed. While he loved Klaus like a father, he wasn't blind nor stupid. He knew what kind of man the old vampire was, he knew that he had done some pretty terrible things in his long life and he certainly didn't want Elena to become his next victim. He knew that she probably wouldn't want anything to do with him after today, no one was stupid enough to cross Klaus more than once, but he never wanted her to be hurt. He really like her, he liked her warm brown eyes, her tinkling laugh that seemed to lighten up the room she was in. but most of all he like her kindness and how she treated him like a normal man.

"You two seemed awfully close when I came in."

Damon immediately focused on Klaus. Things weren't over yet. He had to convince him that nothing had happened if he wanted to fend off any possible repercussion on Elena. Klaus would never harm him, so Damon had to do whatever it took to protect Elena. While she was a vampire and had no problem defending herself, she was no match for the old vampire. Damon had to be what he could, and even more, to be sure that nothing would happen to his friend.

"We were just talking, Klaus. She came looking for a book and, one thing led to another." He simply said, trying to show him his innocence. "It was my fault, really. I was the one that struck a conversation with her, so if you want to punish someone you'll have to punish me."

"Don't be ridiculous, Damon." Dismissed him Klaus. "I won't do anything to you, nor to that girl. In fact, my other security agents tell me that she works hard and causes no troubles so I have no reason to punish her."

At this, Damon finally relaxed. Klaus would never go against his word.

"But I am disappointed, Damon." Continued Klaus, getting closer to him. "I hired that girl only a month ago, we still can't be sure of her intentions and you of all people should know not to trust strangers." His words were not unkind but neither were they to be dismissed as nonsense. "My brothers and I have been telling you that since you could understand our words."

"I know! But I was feeling lonely and I just wanted to talk with someone." Klaus felt a pang of guilt at the young man words. "I swear I told her nothing about me, you or anything else."

Klaus grabbed him lightly by the shoulders, gripping them to offer him some comfort. "I know how you feel. But you have to be careful, not just for your sake but for ours too." He looked him in the eye. "We are family and we stick together." When Damon nodded he changed the subject. "Now, it's been a while since we spent some time together, so what do you say we take the rest of the day just for the two of us?"

Damon immediately lighted up at the prospect of spending some time with Klaus. "Really?"

Klaus briefly nodded, happy to see that Damon was eager to spend time in his company.

"Well, there is this drawing that I just can't finish, so maybe you could give me a hand?" Asked Damon, hoping for an affirmative answer.

Klaus chuckled at the young man shyness. "It would be my pleasure, my boy."

* * *

><p>Elena strolled through the streets from her trip to the hospital. She was in no hurry to get back, on the contrary, she wanted to spend some more time out of that Mansion where Klaus could not get his hands on her. During the next days, she would have to be careful not to commit any more mistakes when it came to Klaus's rules, if she wanted to have a chance at going up the ladder until she reached the Guard Corp. She could not afford to fail. She and Damon would have to find a way to be even more careful than they had already been. She knew it was dangerous to continue with their meeting, but she could not stop seeing him. He was like a drug, and now she needed her daily fix or else she'll go mad.<p>

While walking she couldn't help but notice how easy was life for the humans. They seemed so careless, so full of life. Of course they all had their problems, but they seemed so small when compared to what her kind had to live through. When she looked at humans she saw that freedom that the supernaturals no longer had. That precious freedom that they had taken for granted. They had been so stupid, thinking that nothing would ever take it away from them. Now they were all paying the consequences of their recklessness.

The supernatural creatures that she had encountered along the way, they were far more numerous than any human could ever imagine, all looked the same: defeated, battered, resigned to a life as subjects and nothing more. How had they come to this? How could they have left this kind of power to Klaus? The more she thought of it, the more angrier she got. She had only enjoyed twelve years of freedom, but she remembered what that had felt like. She had believed that anything and everything was possible, that there were no more limits to what she could accomplish. Now she lived with the knowledge that once again, she had a master to whom she had to respond.

A crow landing on a branch nearby, shook her out of her grim thoughts. She absentmindedly looked at it before going on toward her destination. However, after she had walked for another ten feet the crow flew over her to perch on another branch. When she looked at it, it cackled loudly at her. Elena mentally smacked herself, she must have been more shocked than she had thought not to notice immediately that that was not an ordinary crow. Since the members of Jäger had to be careful, they had started to communicate through other means: a crow was Alaric's way.

Elena relaxed her muscles and prepared to make contact with the crow. She reached with her mind toward it and, after a slight resistance, she was able to enter its mind to hear what message Alaric wanted to send her. It was always unsettling hearing his voice resounding in her head through a crow, but after a couple of seconds she usually got used to it. What she heard made her boil with fury.

_Jäger attacked. Klaus found an enclave. No one killed. No one captured._

Once the crow had served its purpose, it flew away leaving her alone in the street, prey to her own emotions. It had been a while since Klaus had found one of their enclaves, the last time had been five years ago. That time no one had survived and a couple of members had been kidnapped. Elena had had to participate in a mission to free the captive members before they were interrogated. Unfortunately things had not gone according to the plan, ending with her having to kill the two prisoners before they talked. She had never felt more disgusted than that day. She had felt physically ill at the thought of killing two of their own.

This time they could heave a breath of relief, but for how long? If he had found one of their enclaves what was to stop him from finding the others? She felt so helpless, so useless in that moment that she wanted to cry. She was so tired of all this, tired of living everyday asking herself if that was the day in which she would die. She just wanted everything to be over. She just wanted peace like everyone else in the organization. But no, they had to fight, to risk their life against an enemy that seemed invincible.

At the thought of Klaus, Elena felt so much anger inside of her that she thought she might explode from it. It was all his fault. He was the sole responsible for what was happening. If he had never come out from wherever he had been, they could have all gone on living their peaceful lives. Instead they had to live with the humiliation of having to bow down to him. Maybe some were fine with living like this, but to her this life was nothing more than living like cattle. And she would not stand for that.

Elena clenched her hands into fists and swore to herself that she would manage to defeat Klaus, no matter what. Even if it was going to be the death of her.


	5. Do What You Have To

**AN: Here is chapter five all for you! This one has more action in it, so I hope you like it better! On a side note, every chapter, this included, has now been edited by the brilliant Short on words (if you've never read her stories you really should 'cause they're made up of pure Delena awesomeness!).**

**PS: Happy late Thanksgiving Day to my American readers out there, I wish I could have said this on Thursday but I don't post on that day ; )**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5 – Do What You Have To<p>

_Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that  
>something else is more important than fear. <em>

_- Ambrose Redmoon - _

A part of Elena had always known that this day would come. Sure, she had accepted a job as a security agent, a job that entailed nothing more than patrolling the borders of the Mikaelson's property and making sure that no one trespassed. Still, her mission had always been that of infiltrating into Klaus's Guard Corp sooner or later. Alaric had been honest with her from the beginning when he had told her of her mission: one day, she would probably have to do something wholly unpleasant, something that would make her feel ashamed of herself. She had been sure she was prepared for that. Yeah, that had been merely wishful thinking.

When someone had knocked at her door that morning, right when she'd been about to get out of bed, she had already known that something was going to be different that day. No one ever came to her in the morning. The entire time she had been there, she had woken up at seven o'clock, drunk a blood bag for breakfast and started her round of patrolling. That knocking at her door was something different, something unexpected and Elena had learned very quickly that unexpected could mean dangerous. Resolving to be extra careful, no matter what destiny wanted to throw her way, Elena had marched toward her door and opened it without further delay.

On the other side Enzo had appeared, smirk firmly in place on his lips. After raising an eyebrow looking her up and down, evidently appreciating the shorts and tank top she had chosen to sleep in, he'd leaned against her door without saying a word. When Elena had impatiently asked what he wanted, he'd shortly told her that Klaus had called a meeting for that afternoon at two o'clock. She was to go in his office downstairs and wait for him. That been said, he had turned and walked away, leaving her dumbfounded staring at nothing in front of her.

For a moment, Elena had been able to think only one thing: _he knows who I am, why I'm here_. She had closed the door of her room, before leaning her back to it. She had felt herself beginning to panic. Her eyes had darted from one place to another as if looking for possible menaces. If Klaus knew who she really was, than she was as good as dead. She had no chance of defeating him face to face, nor could she hope of escaping without no one noticing her. How did it come to this? What had she done that had blown her cover? Was he retaliating for her conversation with Damon? Elena was starting to feel sick. She raised a trembling hand to her face and gave herself a firm slap.

_Stop panicking! You're better than this! You have to think with a clear mind!_

Elena had taken deep breaths to calm herself down. Whatever her situation, she needed to keep her head clear if she wanted to survive. When she'd felt like was back to her level-headed self, she'd started to analyze the situation. Thinking back to her time at the Mansion, there wasn't a single situation that could have blown her cover. She had been careful, had worked hard so that no one could complain about her, she had never been caught in a compromising position. No, Klaus couldn't possibly know her identity. Which had left only one option: he simply wanted to talk to her. As hard as it was to not think the worst, Elena had steeled herself in preparation for her future confrontation with the Original Hybrid.

So here she was, in a room filled with thirteen other vampires. Elena hadn't expected this, Enzo not having mentioned that she wasn't the only one with whom Klaus wanted to speak. From the look of things, everyone in that room was a member of the Guard Corp. Everyone but her. Since no one was talking, Elena decided to follow their example. While she waited for something to happen, she studied her surroundings: the room, Klaus's office, was surprisingly welcoming. It was composed of two areas. The main one, where everyone was gathered, had a couple of sofas and armchairs all turned toward the massive desk that oriented at the entrance door. Behind the desk, two roof to floor windows opened on a terrace. Far off in the distance, one could see the clock-tower in Mystic Falls.

Along the walls there were shelves and bookcases filled with ancient-looking books and trinkets from various eras. Had Elena been on her own, she would have taken the time to sift through some pages of those tomes. It was a very cozy room, full of a warm atmosphere. It was strange to imagine Klaus sitting at the desk, perusing over papers and reports or his detailed plan for world domination.

The second room was only vaguely visible. A set of double doors in the middle of the wall to the left of the entrance, led to a smaller room filled with paintings. Risking a quick glance, Elena saw several abstract paintings accompanied by smaller black and white drawings. The contrast between the two sets of artistic expositions was obvious: the paintings, while masterfully realized, all displayed violent emotions like anger, betrayal, coldness; the drawings, however, were all delicate and spoke of warmth, kindness, solitude. They seemed to have been made by two different people.

Elena was torn away from her musings when the door opened. Inside the room strolled Klaus and Enzo, his ever present smirk for once nowhere to be seen. Seeing Enzo so serious, made Elena wonder what could have happened. If so many members of the Guard Corp had been summoned by Klaus, then maybe something, or someone, was trying to threaten him. The self-appointed king took place behind his desk, intertwining his hands over it, while Enzo quietly stopped to the left of their leader. The fact that he immediately stopped there made Elena think that the right side was reserved for Elijah.

All the vampires were staring at their fearless leader, waiting for orders. _Perfect little lap dogs_. That was the only thing that came to Elena's mind. It made her angry to see such powerful creatures all eager to follow the orders of their master blindly. They weren't even supposed to have a master. They were supposed to be free.

"You must all be wondering why I called you here." Klaus broke the silence, speaking in an even tone. He didn't sound too concerned by whatever had happened.

"As you well know, for the last month we have been tracing any and all potential rebels in this town. All the smaller groups have been eliminated. The only one remaining is composed of twenty members."

Klaus nodded toward Enzo who reached inside his black jacket, pulling out a folder he handed to the Hybrid. Klaus opened it and set it down on his table, facing the vampires reunited in the room. Inside the folder there were several photos, each one picturing a different member of the group. The vampire closest to the desk grabbed the photos and looked at them, passing them to the vampire next to him once he was done. While each member studied the pictures, Klaus went on explaining what he wanted them to do.

"My rules explicitly state that it is forbidden to form groups of more than five people. They have clearly violated this rule and so have to be punished."

Elena had to clench her jaw to not scream in rage when a murmur of approval filled the room. They were talking about the death of men and women as if they were nothing more than bugs. She wanted nothing more than to run away.

"We have been trying to talk to them, making them follow the rules just like everyone else. It seems, however, that they just won't give in therefore leaving me with no choice: they have to be eliminated. The only one that I want to stay alive is their leader. Bring him to me, so that he can be questioned." Klaus left no room for doubts. What he said was the law.

Elena had expected things to go like that, Klaus was not someone who liked to go through the effort of using diplomacy when it came to this sort of things. She was surprised he had even tried in the first place. It had probably been Elijah's idea. In that moment the photos were handed to her. She rapidly sift through them, trying to not linger on any of them. When she reached the last, though, she froze. A child. There was a child among them. Elena felt sick. How could they do this? Why was no one refusing to kill a child?

A presence beside her made her look up. Klaus was looking at her curiously, no doubt wondering why her expression was so shocked.

"I bet you want to know why you've been included in this mission, Miss Gilbert." There was amusement in his voice and Elena hated him all the more for that. There was nothing amusing in what he was ordering them to do. "It's all very simple, really. You see, I want to know what you're capable of. Your first day here, you told me you could stand out even among my Guard Corp," he gestured with his hand at the vampires around them, "here is your chance. I hope it's not too much for you."

Elena heavily swallowed before answering, "No, Sir."

With a nod and a smile, Klaus left. The other vampires around her were starting to leave the room, wanting to prepare for their imminent deployment. Elena, for the life of her, could not move a single muscle in her body. She was still clutching the photos in her hands, wracking her brain to try and find a way to not kill that little kid. Some part of her was relieved that those weren't members of Jäger. Alaric had decided to move outside of Mystic Falls when her mission begun, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. But another part of her, while knowing that this was her chance to impress Klaus and get closer to him, could not stand the idea of killing innocent people. As much as she wanted to, though, she found no way out of this.

"Are you nervous?" Suddenly asked Enzo.

Elena turned to look at him. He had moved so silently that she hadn't even noticed his presence beside her. She tried to recall what he had just asked her, but for the life of her she just couldn't. She cleared her throat and, after running her fingers through her hair, she asked him to repeat his question.

"I asked if you were nervous, but I think I just received my answer." He regarded her with eyes partly amused and partly sympathetic. Trying to ease her nerves he said, "You don't need to worry, Elena. Everything will go smoothly and we'll be back for dinner before you even realize it. Klaus just wants to test you, but I'm sure you'll do good."

After having said his comforting words, Enzo squeezed her shoulder and turned to leave. While exiting the room he raised his voice, without turning or stopping, "In your room there is a change of clothes. The rendez-vous is in 30 minutes at the entrance gate."

Elena watched him leave, feeling no better than before. She looked once again at the child in the photo. From the looks of it, he wasn't a day over eight, with green eyes and red hair. He was smiling brightly with the innocence only a child could have. Elena closed her eyes and set the photos on Klaus's desk, leaving the room.

She reached her room and stopped in front of her bed where a pile of clothes had been left on it. On the left of the clothes, there were four twelve-inches long stakes, a couple of vervain grenades and another two wolf's bane grenades. She grabbed everything and went inside the bathroom to change. They were nothing fancy: black combat boots, black cargo pants, black form-fitting t-shirt, a black sleeveless jacket and a pair of gloves that only covered her fingers and the palm of her hands, no doubt to leave the tattoo on the right hand of the Guard Corp visible. Elena was starting to hate the color black. Once she put everything on, she took two stakes and tied them to her calves with the strings present on her pants. The other two stakes were to be tied to her lower back, easily reachable. She then put her grenades in her jacket's breast pockets, two on the left side and two on the right side.

After quickly checking herself in the mirror, she left her room and went downstairs to go to the point of rendez-vous. When she reached the first floor, she noticed Damon was standing next to the entrance door, twisting his hands. His heart was racing in his chest. When he saw her approaching, he offered her a small smile.

"What are you doing here, Damon?" She whispered to him, afraid that someone would see them.

Damon lowered his eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry for what happened with Klaus." Had she not been a vampire Elena would have had problems hearing his words. "I made sure that he won't hurt you, though, so you can stop worrying."

Elena softly smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it since he kept his eyes on the ground. He had been worried for her. Elena could feel her body warming up at his words. He was so sweet, talking to Klaus to make sure that he'd leave her alone. She felt happy at the notion that he clearly cared about her, enough that he would risk getting into trouble with the Original just for her sake.

"Thank you, Damon." She whispered to him. "I wish I had the time to stay here and talk with you, but I really have to go right now."

At her words, Damon raised his eyes to hers and took a step closer, leaving almost no room between the two of them.

"I know that you're going on a mission with the Guard Corp," he quickly said, his voice matching hers in tone, "and I wanted to tell you that everything is going to be okay, nothing is going to happen to you."

Before Elena had the time to say anything, he quickly moved closer and enveloped her in a tight embrace. She gasped at the sudden contact. He was so warm, alive, and he was holding her so tightly that she never wanted this moment to end. She was so stunned that her arms remained immobile at her side, instead of wrapping around him. She had the vague sensation that he was whispering something under his breath, but she could not be sure she was right. The hug ended quicker than she would have liked. He squeezed her shoulders and then let her go, quickly scampering away.

Still shocked by Damon's sudden display of affection, Elena left the Mansion to meet with the others. Once she reached the gates Enzo, who Klaus had chosen to be their leader, instructed them to divide into two groups and climb up in the back of the two vans parked just outside. Eight vampires climb into the first one, Elena included, since she wanted to stay close to Enzo. The other seven took the second one. Elena felt a little uncomfortable confined in that little space with six other vampires that she knew nothing about, but she just clenched her jaw and held on.

Enzo drove for about 30 minutes before stopping. When Elena jumped out of the back of the van, she realized immediately where they were: in the outskirts of the town, where several abandoned buildings stood like silent monoliths, witnesses of a time now gone. The building they were facing, while quite large, rose only up to three floors. To her left, Enzo was laying down a map of the building on top of the hood of the van. Once all the vampires had gathered around him, he explained their course of action.

"There are three point of entrance to the building, but only two are still accessible. This one, and this one over here." He showed the two points on the map with his forefinger. "Kyle and Celestia," the man and the woman mentioned came closer, "you take two men each and guard the entrances."

The two nodded, waved their hands to four other vampires and moved toward their designated spot.

"The rest of us will divide into three groups of three men each. Each group will take a different floor and eliminate all the targets. If one of the groups finishes before the others, they will have to move to the following floor to help their companions if necessary."

Once everyone nodded, showing him that they agreed with his plan, Enzo folded the map and put it away inside his jacket.

"Sasha and Elena, you two will be staying with me." The two women nodded, Elena silently grateful that Enzo had decided to keep her with him. "Killian and Balthazar, you'll be the leaders of the two remaining groups."

As soon as all the three groups had been decided, everyone moved. They decided to storm into the building by going up the fire escape stairs by the side of the building. They would take position each at their designated floors and, at Enzo's command, they would enter through the windows. The majority of the members of the rebel group were werewolves, thus almost impotent against vampires, especially those as well trained as they were.

Once they were all in position, Elena took a deep breath and waited for Enzo's order. When he let out a loud whistle, everyone sprang into action. Everything happened so fast, Elena felt disoriented for a moment. The werewolf charging at her from her left, dragged her back to the present. He swung at her with a right hook directed at her left temple. The hours and hours of training with Alaric made Elena react on instinct. She ducked to avoid the punch all the while swinging her left leg, catching the man behind the right knee. When he fell down, she quickly snapped his neck without giving herself the time to think about what she was doing. Later she would mourn the innocent victims of this cruel world, now she had to focus if she wanted to survive.

When she turned she saw Enzo removing a woman's heart before letting it fall on the floor, the blood on his hand the only color in the room. Seeing that everything was under control, she moved to the next room. No one was around so she proceeded into the hallway when she was suddenly tackled by a woman. Once down on the floor the woman, clearly a vampire judging by her strength, tried to snap her neck. Elena managed to reach for one of her vervain grenades and smashed it into the side of the woman's face. With a quick jerk of her hips, Elena rolled the screaming vampire until she was on top of her. She reached for one of the stakes tied to her calves and swiftly ended her attacker.

Elena wiped the sweat from her forehead and stood up. She silently walked toward the end of the hallway, checking every door she passed to see if anyone was inside, and rounded the corner going to the right. She heard the sound of a stake cutting through the air at high speed when it was too late. She tried to duck, raising her right arm in the hopes of intercepting the flying object before it could stake her, but when it came three feet from her it suddenly changed its trajectory, embedding itself in the wall to her left.

Elena didn't stop to think about the miracle that had just happened in front of her. She ran as fast as she could toward the man at the end of the hallway, reaching for one of the stakes at her lower back. When she reached the stunned man, she buried the stake in his heart, without even asking herself if he was a vampire or a werewolf. When his body fell heavily to the ground, Elena remained put, listening for any movement around her. She could distantly hear the others proceeding on their deadly mission, clearly having no second thoughts.

By the time she made to turn back and join the others, she heard a quiet whimper coming from a door on her left. She entered the room, looking around for the source of the sound. It seemed to come from under a desk near a window on her left. When she rounded the desk, she froze. It was the kid from the photo, hugging his legs with tears streaming down his face. He was doing his best to keep his whimpers to a minimum, looking at her with wide frightened eyes. Elena knew that she would remember his face until the day she would die. Without thinking about the consequences of her actions, she brought a finger to her lips telling him to stay silent.

"Stay here until I come back for you. I'll take you to a safe place." She whispered.

Praying to God that the child would do what she told him to, she left the room with the intent of going back to the others. She found them all together in one of the biggest room down on the second floor. Among them, on his knees, was a man who Elena guessed to be the leader of the rebels. When Enzo saw her coming in, he stepped closer to her.

"We counted the bodies laying around and found eighteen of them. Where is the last one?" He seemed to be searching the answer in her eyes.

"I took care of it." Elena herself was surprised by the calmness in her voice. "He was trying to escape but I nicked his femoral artery, he'll be dead in minutes."

Enzo narrowed his eyes cocking his head to the side. "Didn't think you had it in you to kill a child." Something in his voice made her think that he didn't exactly believe her, though he had no way of proving she was lying.

He turned toward the other vampires in the room. "We can go back to the Mansion. Tie him up and throw him in the back of your van, Killian." After this words, everyone moved toward the vans.

Elena didn't even pay attention to what was happening around her, sitting in the company of those vampires. Before she could even think about what happened in that abandoned building, they were already back at the Mansion. It was no later than six in the evening, but she felt physically drained. When Enzo told them that they could all go change while he took care of things with Klaus, Elena quickly went to grab a blood bag from the kitchen. After finishing it in record time she decided to go to her room.

While going up the stairs, she caught a glimpse of Damon staring at her from the doorway that led into the ballroom. She was too tired to go talk to him, but she sent him a small smile to show him that she was fine. He happily returned it before leaving her sight. Once inside the room, Elena threw herself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She thought back to the child and once again hoped that he had remained where he was. She knew he had no reason to do as she told him, but prayed he would. She needed to save him, otherwise she would have nothing to help her pretend she was something more than a murderer. The life of a kid for the three people she had killed. Surely there was some balance in it?

In twenty minutes, she was practically asleep. Before closing her eyes, she fleetingly thought about the stake that should have killed her. She couldn't find an explanation for that sudden change in trajectory. Nothing could have caused it. It was like it had encountered some sort of barrier that had forced it to slam against the wall, instead of burying itself in her chest. Since she could see no way to explain what happened, Elena simply shrugged her shoulders and fell asleep.

When she woke up hours later, everything was dark and silent. She sat up in bed and swung her legs to the side to leave the bed. She rapidly checked her equipment, she hadn't changed her clothes, and made sure that everything was in its proper place. With catlike grace, she left her room to go and, hopefully, save the kid that had been the only bright light in a day that, otherwise, had been nothing but darkness.


	6. Sind Sie Das Essen?

**AN: I present to you the sixth chapter of this story! I was overwhelmed by the amount of reviews I received after I posted last chapter. For that I have to thank all of you, you managed to bump up my review count from 19 to 51 in two/three days! A special thank you goes to Short on words because if you discovered this story it's only thanks to her. I have no words that will thank you enough, except for the ones you'll find in this chapter. I also thank all those who put this story in their favorites or follows. **

**Speaking of her, you have another reason to thank her: there is a bit of German in this chapter that she graciously corrected (along with all the other mistakes I made). Why would I put German in here if I know nothing of that language? Simple: I said in chapter 1 that Alaric comes from a Germanic country (I remember when in season 1 he actually said that his ancestors came from Germany) so I had to stick with it. You'll soon see that he doesn't exactly come from Germany, that country didn't exist when he was born, so I had to choose between two others: Austria (Holy Roman Empire) or Prussia. I'll let you now read which one I chose ;)**

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><p>Chapter 6 – Sind Sie Das Essen?<p>

_When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching - they are your family._

_- Jim Butcher -_

Elena moved quickly through the darkened streets leading her to the abandoned building where, with any luck, the boy was still waiting for her. Leaving the Mansion had been tricky but, since she knew where each security agent was, she had been able to avoid all of them. She had chosen to climb over the white wall that delimited the Mikaelson's land. More precisely, she had climbed up a tree right by the wall and then she had jumped down. Whatever, this wasn't the time to be unnecessary punctilious.

She rounded a corner, smiling when she saw the building she was looking for right in front of her, slightly to the right. While she had known how to reach the outskirts of Mystic Falls, she hadn't known the exact location of the building. The fact that she could see it made everything so much easier. She stopped for a moment to look behind her. Every once in a while she had thrown a look over her shoulder, trying to see if anyone was following her. She had seen no one, but one could never be too sure and she really didn't want any unpleasant surprises. Once she was sure she was alone, Elena approached the building.

She decided to enter through the same window as that morning. She quietly climbed up the fire-escape by the side of the building, stopping on the third floor. The window was still open so she had no trouble jumping in. Inside there was nothing but darkness. Elena silently thanked the fact that she was a vampire, otherwise it would have been impossible to see anything. She sidestepped the corpse on her left, it seemed that no one had thought about burying the bodies, and moved along the same way as that morning. Once she reached the hallway she realized how cold it was in the building. She bent down and, after a little struggle, managed to take off the jacket worn by the woman who had tried to snap her neck. She folded it with the intention of giving it to the boy.

She rounded the corner and counted the doors to her left until she reached the one where the boy had been. She silently entered the room and listened. There was no sound. Anxious, Elena went around the table on the left and peered under it. The boy was gone. She was about to panic when she heard a little whimper. She straightened up and looked to her right: the whimper seemed to come from behind a filing cabinet. She quickly moved the furniture and found a hole in the wall and, inside it, the little boy.

He was looking at her with frightened eyes, clearly not sure if he could trust her even though she had saved his life. He was trembling like a leaf, partly because he was scared and partly because of the cold temperature in the building. Elena, with slow movements so as not to scare him even more, unfolded the jacket and reached out to give it to him.

"Take it," she softly said with a small encouraging smile, "you must be terribly cold."

The boy stared at the jacket, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then tentatively reached for it. Elena helped him put it on. It was obviously too big for him, completely dwarfing him in it, but it served the purpose of warming him up a bit. The next step was to calm him down and make him trust her.

"My name is Elena." She said, capturing his attention. "I know that you're scared, you have every right to be, but you can trust me. I want to take you somewhere safe, where no one will hurt you."

He seemed dubious, after all she had been with the bad men that had killed everyone else, but she seemed nice, kind. He didn't know why, but the boy's instinct was telling him to trust her. His mom had always told him to trust his instinct because there was a wolf inside of him, and wolves always knew if someone was worthy of their trust. It had been instinct that had told him to hide under the table, and he had survived.

"Where are you going to take me?" He asked her in a soft trembling voice.

"To some friends of mine that will protect you." She answered equally soft, trying to convey some sort of comfort to him. "They won't allow anyone to hurt you, okay?"

The little boy seemed to think about her words for a couple of seconds, minutely nodding afterward to signal that he was ready to go. Elena reached out to him with both her arms.

"I'll have to pick you up since you can't run as fast as I can, is it alright with you?" She didn't want to make him uncomfortable, he was already shocked enough as it was.

"Okay." He replied.

He took her hands and allowed her to pick him up. She decided to carry him on her back, leaving her hands free and giving her more mobility, since she'd have to run. Once she was sure he was gripping her tightly enough, she moved to go back toward the exit. For the moment she simply walked, figuring that jumping out of a window at full speed would be a sure way to give him a heart attack. When she was about halfway, she felt him shift so he could talk in her ear.

"My name is Jacob." He told her.

Elena slightly turned to look at him over her shoulder. "It's a pleasure to meet you Jacob."

A couple of minutes later, Elena reached the window and carefully got out of the building. She swiftly descended the stairs, trying not to jostle Jacob too much. Once she reached the ground she stopped a moment, listening to the quiet night. As far as she could tell, there was no one around. She couldn't hear any heartbeats, which meant no humans, nor smell any creature nearby their location. Werewolves always smelled a little bit like animals, something that vampires liked to point out to them, while vampires, if one really paid attention to it, smelled like death. Fortunately it was such an imperceptible smell that no one paid attention to it, otherwise things would have been awkward for their whole species.

"Hold on tight, Jacob" Elena warned the little boy, now sure that they were alone.

As soon as she finished talking, she sped off into the night, running as fast as she could leaving Mystic Falls behind her. She knew exactly where to go. Alaric had told her that in the nearby town of Fell's Church, there was a seldom used base of Jäger. He had also told her that if she ever needed help, she could always go there. Well, she clearly needed help right now. Or better yet, Jacob needed help and Elena knew that Jäger was the only place where the little boy could hope to survive. Left alone, Jacob would have probably died in a matter of weeks if not days.

It was a good thing that vampires didn't need to rest. To be honest Fell's Church wasn't distant, Alaric wanted to be close in case he had to intervene to save Elena's life, but it wasn't exactly around the corner. While Elena had always been particularly fast as a vampire, she would need to run for thirty, maybe forty, minutes to reach it. Elena chanced a look at the sky, it was still pitch black. By the looks of things it was midnight, or at least around it, giving her enough time to reach the base, drop off Jacob, talk with some members of Jäger and go back to the Mansion.

Noticing that they were getting closer, Elena left the main road and entered the woods to the left of it. After a couple of minutes spent dodging trees and jumping over ditches, she finally saw the abandoned house she was searching for. On the right of it, there was a well closed by wooden boards. She stopped by it and moved the boards to the side, throwing a look down it to be sure that there was no water at the bottom.

"Close your eyes and hold on, Jacob." Told him Elena, climbing on top of the well.

When she felt the boy nodding against her back, she let herself fall down. The fall was brief and, in three seconds, she was touching ground bending her legs to soften the landing. She patted Jacob on the leg, letting him know that he could let go of her and walk by himself. It was so dark inside the well that even she had trouble seeing anything. She pressed the palm of her hand to the wall in search of the breach. When she found it, she grabbed the boy's hand with her right one, keeping her left hand in touch with the wall to guide her through the narrow path.

They walked for almost seventy feet before coming to a stop in front of a metal door. Elena knocked three times and listened. After a minute, the sound of a slot sliding open on the door could be heard. Even though she could only see rough shapes in such a dark place, Elena knew that a pair of eyes was fixed on her.

"_Sind sie das Essen?_" Asked a man in a firm voice.

Even though almost everyone in Jäger knew who she was, at least by sight, they still had to ask to be sure. Rick always stressed the importance of always being careful, even when letting a member of the organization enter in one of their bases. Everyone had to be extremely cautious, since they didn't know what kind of powers Klaus had. Elena answered without hesitation.

"_Nein, wir sind die Jäger._" She spoke with a perfect German accent, thanks to Alaric's lessons.

Immediately, the door opened letting her pass. She quickly entered the underground facility, hearing the door closing behind the two of them. When she looked at Jacob, she smiled seeing him staring with wide eyes at the sight in front of him. She knew the feeling well. This was her first time in this particular base, so she remained almost blinded by the color white she could see everywhere. Each base was different and characterized by the appearance chosen by the vampire, or werewolf, chosen to command it. The leader of this one, her best friend Caroline, had clearly chosen to paint it completely white to brighten up the atmosphere. Elena shook her head. _Typical Caroline_.

Elena squeezed Jacob's hands, making him turn toward her. "Let's go find a place for you to stay."

After that, she started walking down the hallway in which they were. She had a vague idea where Caroline's office was, all their bases had a similar layout, so she took a right turn as soon as she could searching for the stairs that would lead to the second underground floor. While walking toward her destination, she nodded and waved at the members of Jäger that, recognizing her, greeted her with happy smiles and pats on her back. After a couple of minutes she reached an open-space area where several men and women could be found quietly conversing between them.

"Elena!" Exclaimed a man, rapidly walking up to her.

"Stefan! What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in our North Carolina base."

The two hugged tightly, wide smiles splitting their faces in half. Stefan was one of her closest friends. They had met only six years ago but they had rapidly become inseparable. For a while they had tried dating, thinking that they owed it to themselves to figure out if they could be more than friends, but they had soon realized that they made a lot more sense when they weren't a couple. Of course, the fact that Stefan had been a human at the time had done nothing to make things easier. Elena had learned early on that relationships between humans and vampires tended to end in the same way: either the human turned to remain with their loved one or they didn't. Elena had never wanted to turn Stefan, ironic since in the end it had been her blood that had made him a vampire.

"Alaric wanted to come here to be closer to you," informed her Stefan, after their hug ended, "so I decided to accompany him."

"Alaric is here?" Asked Elena, surprised.

Stefan nodded and then frowned, looking behind her. Only now had he noticed the boy hiding behind her back. He stiffened when his smell reached his nose. _Human_. He took deep breaths to try and reign in the blood lust, not wanting to scare the little boy. Elena eyed him carefully, seizing up his restraint. He was a young vampire, turned only five years ago, and he still had problems when it came to his hunger for blood. She put her arm around Jacob's shoulders, silently reassuring him that there was nothing to fear.

"How are you doing with the cravings?" She softly asked Stefan.

He closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing his posture and forcing himself to stay calm. When he opened them again, there was a faint trace of red mixed with the green of his eyes. He awkwardly smiled at Elena, embarrassed by his momentary lapse in control.

"I'm doing better, your little friend just took me by surprise." He said, nodding toward the child. "Who is he, by the way?"

"This is Jacob." She introduced him, gently pushing him forward to meet Stefan. "I saved him from one of Klaus's punishing raids."

Stefan grimly smiled. He didn't need her to elaborate on the details of the mission, he already knew everything there was to know. He had joined Alaric's organization immediately after turning, so he knew perfectly what was going on in the supernatural world. He bent over and lightly squeezed Jacob's hand, giving him silent comfort. After that he brought his eyes back to Elena.

"Alaric is in Caroline's office," he told her, "she should be there too."

Elena nodded at him and, after another brief embrace she took Jacob's hand once again and walked toward Caroline's office. Stefan had told her quickly where to go, so at least she wasn't just wondering around now. She soon found the stairs she had been looking for and, while descending them, she thought about how happy she was that soon she'd be able to see Alaric. She had missed him dearly in the last month, not used to this distance after twenty-five years of being constantly side by side in their fight against Klaus.

She glanced at the child behind her. He had remained silent throughout their journey and he was choosing to remain so even now. Elena's heart clenched in sympathy. His life had been irrevocably changed in the span of a day, it wasn't such a surprise that he didn't want to talk much. Hopefully, Alaric would know what to do with him. Elena was sure that Alaric always knew what to do, no matter the situation. In the twenty-five years they had known each other, he had never let her down.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they took the first left they found and then a right one, stopping in front of an oak door that stood out sharply in the vast ocean of white. Elena knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it for her. She didn't have to wait for long and, as soon as the door opened, she found herself with a blond tornado in her arms. She had to let go of Jacob's hand to avoid getting him involved in Caroline's bone-crashing hug. The blonde vampire was holding her so tightly that she feared for her life.

"Elena, I'm so happy to see you!" Exclaimed Caroline in a high pitched voice thanks to her excitement, "I was so worried when Alaric told me that you had accepted that suicide mission!"

Elena awkwardly moved her arms around Caroline, patting her on the back in the hopes that she would calm down. Little Jacob stood by her side, eying Caroline with dubious eyes. The poor thing had no idea what was going on. When he looked to his right, he saw a tall man with sandy brown hair walking toward them.

"Let the poor girl go, Caroline or you'll be the cause of her death instead of her mission." He spoke with a warm smile on his lips.

The blonde vampire instantly released Elena, even though they all knew that she couldn't actually kill her by holding her too tightly. Once she could finally breathe again, Elena looked over her friend's shoulder at the man she trusted the most in her life. She walked closer to him and smiled up at him. His warm brown eyes locked with hers and she immediately felt at home. Alaric gently cupped her cheek and pulled her into one of his warm, all-encompassing, embraces.

"It is so good to see you all in one piece, _mein M__ä__dchen._" He whispered against her hair.

Every time he felt emotional, Rick tended to let his German slip into his words. He had been born in 1532 in the city of Königsberg in the late Duchy of Prussia. Even though, technically, the city was now a part of Russia, he firmly refused to call himself Russian, stating that he had been and always would be Prussian. To make things simpler in everyday life, he dryly said that he was German, though for him the two Germanic people were completely different. Elena had always found it funny how annoyed he got when someone reminded him how Prussia didn't even exist anymore.

When they let go, Elena turned and motioned for Jacob to come closer. She put an arm around his shoulders when he stopped by her side.

"This is Jacob," she told to Rick, "he was together with a group of rebels that Klaus wanted dead. I rescued him and couldn't think of a better place than this for him."

"You did the right thing, 'Lena." Told her Alaric, kneeling to reach Jacob's eye-level. "You're going to be safe here, little one. We'll find you a room and tomorrow we'll discuss what your future will be. Okay?"

Jacob nodded, soothed by Rick's low voice. The leader of Jäger had always had an extraordinary ability to make everyone feel at ease around him. It probably stemmed from the fact that he treated everyone with respect, without considering himself superior to anyone. Every member of their organization agreed on the fact that they were extremely lucky to have him as their leader.

Alaric looked at Caroline from his place on his knees. "Could you take our little friend and show him to his room?"

Caroline smiled at him and took Jacob's hand leading him away. Elena and Alaric could hear her chatter rapidly, even after she rounded the corner. They both smiled, amused by the bubbly blonde personality. When they could no longer hear her, Alaric gestured for Elena to come inside the office.

It was a small room, entirely made of wood. Books could be found all over the bookcases and even on the floor, piling up almost at waist height. There were no windows, obviously, and the only light came from the lamp on the desk and the small chandelier over their heads. All in all the room was cozy, warm, lived-in. There was only one thing that had Elena frowning: there was no way that a neat-freak like Caroline would ever allow this kind of chaos in her office. With a raised eyebrow she looked at Rick, who was frantically moving papers around to try and clear the desk a little.

"Yeah, I know. Caroline is going to kill me for this." He said with a grimace.

Elena chuckled sitting down on the red armchair in front of the desk. She sighed when she slumped into it, comfortably crossing her legs at the ankle. In the meantime, Rick had finally succeeded in clearing up the desk enough to set his elbows on it, resting his chin on his intertwined hands. He looked her over, as if looking for injuries, with a worried glance.

"How are you holding up?" He softly asked her.

Elena suddenly felt tired. This day seemed to never reach an end, and she really needed it to be over so she could have some time to come to terms with what she had done to those innocent people. Somehow, Alaric sensed this and offered her as much of his understanding as he could.

"Stefan told me about the punishing raid." He told her. "I'm sure you already know this, but you did what you had to, otherwise Klaus would have found out your identity and you'd likely be dead if not worse."

Elena felt tears welling in her eyes. She had told herself the same thing without receiving any comfort from it. Yet, now that those words were coming out of Alaric's mouth, they somehow sounded more believable. Rick had seen and done a lot of terrible things in his life and he, better than anyone, knew that, sometimes, even though you knew you had no choice, the shame you felt over your actions burned inside of you. You could hide from others, but you could never hide from yourself.

"You are so brave, Elena." Continued Rick, seeing that she was on the verge of breaking. "You saved that boy and I know that it doesn't look like much, but it is. He'll get to live his life instead of being just another faceless victim. And you were the one who made that possible."

Elena let herself cry silently for those she had killed, while Alaric's words washed over her, soothing her soul. That fact that she had had no choice, didn't make things better but it made them more bearable. If Rick told her that she had done the right thing, than she would believe him because he never lied, not to her. After she had dried her tears, she sent a trembling smile in Alaric's direction receiving an understanding one in return.

"So," started the old vampire wanting to change the subject, "tell me how things are at the Mikaelson's Mansion."

Elena told him about the last month. She described the moment she had met Klaus on the first day, the relief she had felt when he had given her the job. She told him the various positions of the security guards at every hour of the day, knowing that he'd make a good use of that information if he ever needed to storm the Mansion. She had no new information about Klaus's secret weapon, though, nor had she heard anyone talking about it.

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy to find out about it, Elena." Told her Alaric, feeling a hint of disappointment in him. He didn't like the fact that Elena was all alone in the enemy's den and wished for this mission to be over as soon as possible.

"There is something strange, though." Decided to inform him Elena. When Alaric raised his eyebrows she continued, "There is a human living with the Mikaelsons. They consider him part of their family."

"A human?" Asked the older vampire in disbelief.

"Yes," she answered him, "he's name is Damon."

At the mention of Damon's name, Alaric's eyes jumped to Elena's. The woman thought she could see a flash of recognition passing through the eyes of the leader of Jäger.

"Did you say Damon?" He asked for a confirmation, setting his hands down on the table as if to steady himself.

"Yes." Elena frowned at his reaction. "Why? Do you know him?"

He seemed startled by her question. He shook his head and cleared his throat, moving some papers around to try and appear disinterested. "_Nein_. I mean, no. I don't know him, I just didn't catch his name."

"You know I'm not stupid, right?" Did he seriously think that she would buy his story?

Alaric sighed before looking at her. "It's nothing, Elena. Just a hunch that needs to be confirmed before I can talk about it."

Elena looked him in the eyes, searching for the truth in his words. He would never hide something important from her, so if he told her that he needed time to do some proper research before he could come to her, then so be it. After that, they started talking about how things were going forJäger, leaving behind them their previous conversation. When Elena saw that the grandfather clock behind Alaric marked half-past one in the morning, she told her friend that she needed to go before anyone noticed her absence.

After she closed the door behind her, Alaric leaned back in his chair bringing his intertwined hands to his lips. After a moment he opened the top drawer in the desk and pulled out a black leather journal. He never went anywhere without it. He opened it, sifting through the pages filled with memories of all the things he had seen in his long life, until he reached the page he was looking for. In that page there was nothing but the worn-down photo of a woman: she had long raven hair and brilliant blue eyes. She was smiling toward the camera, a hand resting on her rounded belly, a clear sign that she was with child.

Alaric caressed the image with his fingertips. "Could it be really him, Elisabetta?"

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><p>Damon opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk, pouring himself a glass. He had just woken up after another of his weird dreams. Nothing ever happened in them, except he could hear the voice of a woman calling out to him. He could never find her or see her and, after a while, he just woke up feeling as confused as ever. Usually milk and cookies helped him go back to sleep. Rebekah had been the one who started this tradition when, at six, he had started having these weird dreams. She would sit, with him on her lap, by the kitchen counter and would feed him cookies dipped in a glass of milk while telling him how much she loved him, how she would never leave him alone and that, every time he needed her, she would be there to hunt the dreams away.<p>

Just as he was reaching for a bag of cookies he heard a sound coming from the next room. He set the bag down and softly padded barefoot toward the source of the sound. He hid in the shadows next to the doorway and looked around. The window facing the driveway to their mansion was open and someone was climbing in. When the figure turned to close the window, the light of the moon revealed its face: it was Elena. Damon held his breath as Elena swiftly moved to leave the room, probably going up to her chamber. When he was sure she had left, he went back to the kitchen and stopped.

He tried to think of a reason for Elena to be sneaking in at almost two in the morning, but he could find none. What was he supposed to do? He could wake Klaus and tell him what he'd seen, but that would mean serious trouble for Elena. In the end he decided to stay silent and to keep an eye on her. After all, maybe she had just felt the need to catch some fresh air. He ignored the voice in the back of his head, telling him that he just liked her too much to cause her any troubles.

With a sigh he grabbed the bag of cookies and his glass of milk and made his way toward his room.

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><p><em>Sind sie das Essen? <em>(Are you the prey? - 'Essen' literally means 'food' not 'prey' but it can be read as such in this context)

_Nein, wir sind die Jäger._ (No, we are the hunters)

_Mein Mädchen_ (My girl – an affectionate way Alaric used to refer to Elena, it does not imply an intimate relationship between them, just that Alaric cares for her)


	7. Walls And Dreams

**AN: I want to thank you all so much for the lovely reviews, I'm really feeling the love here! I would also like to thank the Guest reviewers, particularly Elisa: I've already corrected my mistake, thank you for pointing that out!**

**For all those that were waiting for more Delena scenes, this chapter has a healthy dose of them so enjoy it! Unfortunately this chapter hasn't been edited by the amazing Short on words so if you catch any mistake, please tell me so I can correct it. I want to offer you guys the best I have when it come to writing, but unfortunately, even though I've been studying English for years, I still make some mistakes.**

**PS: there is a quote from Shingeki No Kyojin, one of the sources of inspiration for this story, in this chapter so if you find it you'll get virtual Christmas cookies!**

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><p>Chapter 7 – Walls And Dreams<p>

_We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming - well, that's like saying you can never change your fate. _

_- Amy Tan__ - _

Damon had been staring at the ceiling for the better part of an hour that morning. He was usually and early riser, waking up when the sun started peeking into his room from the floor length windows right in front of his bed. He really wasn't one to just lay around in bed after waking up, it just seemed pointless to him to waste time simply doing nothing. This morning, however, he figured he could spend a little time doing nothing but thinking.

He lightly drummed the fingers of both hands against his pajama clad stomach, furrowing his brows as his mind went to the night before. He couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Elena had been sneaking in at two in the morning and, judging by her catlike movements, she clearly didn't want to get caught. He really wanted to believe that she had done nothing suspicious, that she had just felt the need to breathe some fresh air, yet he couldn't help the little voice in his head that told him she was hiding something.

He sighed, turning on his side hugging one of his pillows close to his chest. The natural distrust cultivated in him by his family told him that maybe Elena could be a spy, maybe she had been up at that hour because she had met with her boss to pass him information on Klaus, or on Damon himself. His chest constricted painfully at the thought that she had been lying to him all along. Had he really been so blind that he hadn't seen what was right in front of him? Had his loneliness made him so ready to accept the friendship of the first person, outside of his family, that treated him with kindness?

Damon shut his eyes. He just didn't get it. He couldn't, for the life of him, reconcile the idea of Elena being a spy with the image of the beautiful, gentle woman that lately was in his every thoughts. It was simply impossible. He refused to think that she had been using him all along to get closer to the Mikaelsons. She couldn't be the kind of person that would prey on his emotions, on his desire for companionship. As much as he wracked his brain in search of an answer, he just had no way to know the truth. In the end he could do nothing more than watch how things would go. He would keep what he'd seen the other night to himself and he would keep an eye on Elena.

Knowing he could do nothing more about the current situation, he quickly dressed himself and went down for breakfast. Once he reached the kitchen he filled a bowl with cereals and poured some milk in it. When he went to sit down in the living room to watch some TV while eating, he froze. There, on the couch he usually sat on, was his whole family.

"Rebekah!" exclaimed Damon with a happy smile growing on his lips.

The blonde vampire turned toward him, a smile mirroring his own painted on her lips. She gestured for him to sit down between her and Klaus, while Elijah stood up and moved to sit on an armchair nearby. Once on the couch, Damon set his bowl of cereals down on the coffee table before letting himself be hugged by Rebekah. He had missed her so much. When the two separated, they let themselves revel in each other's presence.

"I though you weren't going to come back until next month." Said Damon. Rebekah had left soon after Elena had accepted the job as security agent. The two of them had probably spoken to each other only once.

Rebekah shrugged her shoulders, "That was the original plan, but I finished what I had to do and figured I should come home to see my favorite men."

"So now we are your favorite men, are we?" Intervened Klaus, a sly smile on his face. "Just a month ago you were telling me how horrible I was for canceling your party."

It was rare seeing Klaus in such a good mood and Damon decided to enjoy the playfulness of the Original. By Elijah's quirked lips and raised brow, it was clear that the elder brother was thinking the exact same thing. By now he was used to his siblings bantering about everything, even the most silly things. Still, it was good seeing his family in such a relaxed atmosphere.

"Oh, shush brother." Silenced him Rebekah. "Canceling that party must have been one of the stupidest ideas you've ever had. A little bit of fun wouldn't kill you. Elijah on the other end..." She smirked in the direction of her older brother.

Elijah lazily smiled before answering, "I enjoy a good party once in a while," he retorted, "or did you forget who helped organizing Woodstock?"

Damon chuckled, listening as they threw comebacks at each other. These were the moments he really treasured, when he could feel the love shared by the four of them flowing through his body. Most people would have found it odd for a human to live with three vampires as family members. Damon considered himself lucky. Yes, none of them was perfect, even the honorable Elijah had done horrible things in his life, but Damon felt only love and acceptance coming from them. Rebekah had once told him that he had a talent for spotting the good in people, and maybe she had been right. It wasn't that he turned a blind eye to their faults, he just saw the good in all of them and when you see the good in others, you start seeing them under a new light.

Once the three Originals had finally stopped teasing each others, Rebekah turned toward Damon who was happily slurping the cereals he had previously put aside.

"So, Damon," she started, giving him her full attention, "has anything happened while I was away?"

Damon thought about it, munching on his cereals while he collected his thoughts. "I've almost finished a sonata I started composing a couple of weeks ago," he said, putting down the empty bowl, "and Klaus helped me finish some of the drawings you liked."

"Perfect, maybe you could show them to me sometime." She was always eager to see his newest creations. Damon had a real gift when it came to artistic creation.

"You didn't tell me you were composing a piece." Spoke up Elijah, his eyebrows settled into a frown.

"Well," started Damon uncertainly, "it's just an experiment and I didn't want to bother you with it." Damon hoped that Elijah would stop asking him questions. The truth was that he had been composing that sonata for Elena, hoping to surprise her with his gift.

Elijah stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Nonetheless, I would like to hear it once it's completed."

Before Damon could come up with an answer to that request, after all he wanted Elena to be the first one to listen to it, Klaus intervened.

"Come now, brother," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "if Damon wants to keep this for himself, just leave him be. An artist should never feel pressured into exposing his masterpiece if he doesn't wish to."

After those words, he subtly turned toward the young man and quickly winked at him with an amused glint in his eyes. Damon bowed his head at him, silently thanking him for stopping that line of questioning. He wasn't embarrassed at the thought of performing in front of Elijah, the two of them had played together lots of times, but this felt like something private, something between only him and Elena.

The four of them went on talking for quite sometime. There was nothing important to discuss, they just reveled in each others presence. It was rare, lately, for them to be all together: Rebekah liked to travel, saying that she just couldn't stay put for too long and Klaus was always busy managing his kingdom, as he called it. Only Elijah spent most of the time in the Mansion, probably because he liked to keep and eye on his younger brother and because he wanted to keep company to Damon. So Damon felt overjoyed at the possibility of spending time with his four favorite people.

When in the afternoon he went into the garden to wait for Elena, he was still in a happy mood. He leisurely made his way toward a wooden bench positioned at the foot of one of the most majestic trees in their garden. While just outside the Mansion the were only low bushes of roses and other plants, when one kept walking toward the outside, the garden turned into a regular forest. Elena and Damon had decided early on to meet underneath the protection offered by the trees, where they could be a little more shielded from prying eyes.

Damon sat down, closed his eyes and threw back his head, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin. Even though the leaves of the tree blocked the majority of the light, some rays managed to penetrate the thick foliage, giving him the sensation of being in another world; a world made of lights and shadows dancing around him at the rhythm of the wind softly moving the branches of the tree.

While he sat there, surrounded by the chirping of the birds, Damon wondered if Elena would come at all. Granted, he had managed to briefly inform her of his success in stopping Klaus from retaliating against her, but what if that hadn't been enough? He wouldn't blame her if she decided to call it quit, not wanting to incur in Klaus's anger once again. However, while he would understand her, he secretly hoped she wouldn't give up so easily. He didn't want to go back to a world without her, without her laugh, her smile and her kind warm eyes. He needed her. There was no going back anymore.

Soft footsteps on his left made him open his eyes, turning toward the direction of the sound. His heart leaped in his throat when he saw Elena approaching him. The light streaming through the leaves, gave her an ethereal quality, making her appear even more beautiful than she normally was. Damon unconsciously liked his lips wondering, not for the first time, what it would feel like to kiss her. He blushed when she locked eyes with him, a smile twisting her lips, fearing that she had somehow heard what he was thinking.

"Hey." Smiled at him Elena, moving to sit down next to him.

"Hey." Answered him in a breathy whisper. He cleared his throat upon hearing his own voice. "I was unsure if you would come."

Elena turned to him with a frown. "Why wouldn't I come?" She asked as if what he had just said was preposterous.

Damon twisted his hands in his lap. "Well, you know," he haltingly said, lowering his eyes, "with the Klaus thing I thought you wouldn't want to risk it again." He managed to say, "I wouldn't blame you." He tried to reassure her.

A punch on his arm made him raise his eyes to meet hers. She was regarding him with an infuriated expression, as if she felt insulted by his words.

"How can you even think that?" She gritted out, her hand still clenched in a fist, "Do you really think so little of me, that you'd believe I would bail on you for such a silly thing?"

When she saw him massaging his arm where she had hit him, looking at her with wide shocked eyes, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She was still a little rattled from her mission to save Jacob and, hearing Damon insinuating that she would abandon him like that, just made her blood boil. When she felt more like herself, she opened her eyes and turned to him.

"I would never bail on you. We're in this together." She said, resting her hand on his knee. "I'm sorry for the punch, I guess I'm still a little upset about yesterday's mission."

Damon exhaled a relieved breath at her words, reassured by her admission that she wouldn't just leave him alone. However, upon seeing her troubled eyes, his smile waned a bit. He didn't like seeing her worried, in his opinion a smile should have always been on her lips. When she removed her hand from his knee, he immediately felt the loss of her touch. He moved a bit closer to her and, swallowing against his natural shyness, he decided to attempt at comforting her. He wasn't sure how that worked, he'd never had anyone to console, but when Rebekah comforted him it didn't seem that hard. You just had to listen and offer all of your support.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He gently asked her, trying to not make her feel obligated to talk to him. "I'm not sure if I can be of help, but I'd like to try." He minutely smiled, feeling like he had said the right thing.

For a while Elena just looked straight in front of her, not sure what to say. Damon was starting to think that she would never answer him. A part of him didn't want to push the issue, if she didn't want to talk about what was troubling her, it was her choice. But another part of him felt disappointed, he really thought they had gotten close in the last month. He wanted to help her, just as she had helped him. She had not given up, even when he had tried to discourage her from pursuing a friendship with him, so he didn't want to give up either.

"I hate this job sometimes." She whispered as if talking to herself. "I hate having to hurt innocent people for reasons that I don't think are right."

"What do you mean?" Asked Damon, wanting to understand her. She had once told him that it had been her choice to apply for a job at the Mansion, so this hate she was professing came as something new.

She turned to look at him and she looked tired. For the first time Damon could see the weight of her years on her shoulders. He knew she was a vampire, older than what she looked, but he had never thought of her as old. Right now, though, that was the only definition that came to mind.

"You probably don't know this, but things weren't always like this." She revealed to him. "There had never been a king of the supernatural before Klaus. Our kind used to be free of doing as they pleased, no rules to follow, no one to respond to. You may think it a chaotic world, but at least we owned our choices."

Damon understood what she was talking about. Elijah had told him a bit about how things used to be before he was born. He had never cared too much about it, he had been born in a different world so he saw no use in worrying about the old one. Elena, though, had obviously been used to how things used to be.

"Sometimes I envy the humans." She was whispering now, as if she was confessing her deepest secret to him. "They live in a much simpler world, with much simpler problems."

Damon wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. How do you comfort a vampire who's having a midlife crisis? He wondered if Elena would really prefer being human. When he thought about it, he could not imagine her as such. She was a vampire, that was the only Elena he knew and liked. Some things could not be changed, nor should they. When Damon looked at her he saw a perfectly functioning vampire. She never lost control, she still had her humanity, something he could not say about the countless vampires in the Guard Corp, so why would she want to change the beautiful creature she was?

"I like you now, just the way you are." He simply said to her, watching as she turned toward him with wide eyes full of surprise. "I don't know why you would envy the humans, Elena. To me, you seem like the poster girl for functioning vampire. You have complete control over your hunger and you still have morals and a conscience."

"But I've killed innocent people." Reminded him Elena. _Because the man you love like a father ordered me to_, she silently added.

"Yes, you did," answered Damon without hesitation, "but you feel bad about it, don't you?" When she nodded he continued, "I'm not saying that that fixes everything, but I can tell you, without shadow of a doubt, that the other members of the Guard Corp don't regret what they did. They're not as human as you are." He was staring her deeply in the eyes, willing to convey how much he believed in his words.

Elena felt like she could cry. What had she done to be worth of such blind trust? She never knew he considered her in such high regards and it made her want to never let him down. If he thought her to still have her humanity, then she would fight to never lose it. For him. For this man who believed in her as much as Alaric did.

Damon smiled when he saw her perk up a bit. "Plus," he decided to go on in the hopes of seeing a smile come up to her lips, "being a vampire doesn't sound so bad to me. I mean, you're fast, strong, your blood heals not only yourself but others as well," he counted off his fingers, "and you get to see the whole world. Most people only see some places during their lifetime, but you get to see all of it, in all its beauty."

Elena saw his eyes shining bright when he started thinking about all the places he would have liked to see. She had noticed he always got excited when talking about the outside world. Every time she caught him watching the TV, he was always choosing programs that talked about the most exotic places to see, or about the various cultures all around the world.

"You really like traveling, don't you?" She asked him, interested in this aspect of him.

Damon huffed throwing a sad smile her way. "I'd like to," he pointed out, "if I could leave this Mansion. I've been living her for as long as I can remember."

Elena's breath caught at his involuntary admission. He had been here his whole life? Did that mean that he had never left? She couldn't even imagine living like that. Damon didn't seem to notice the anger that was starting to gather inside of her, he simply went on talking.

"Actually, I remember living in another place when I was little. I think it was in the mountains, or something." He took on a pensive expression before shrugging his shoulders. "But then, I think I was six at the time, Klaus decided to move here because..." He trailed off when he saw her clenching her jaw, her eyes filled with anger looking at him.

"E-Elena?" He stuttered, a little scared by her fury.

"You've never seen anything outside this Mansion?" She gritted out through clenched teeth. At his fearful nod, she could only ask, "Why?"

Damon swallowed heavily, before finding the courage to answer, "It's for my protection." He said in a little voice. "The outside world can be cruel and it's better for me to stay here, where Klaus and the others can be sure nothing happens to me."

Elena got even more angry. He sounded like he was reciting something he had been told to memorize. She could not understand this level of cruelty. Nor could she understand how it was possible that Damon seemed okay with all this. He was essentially a prisoner and he didn't even care.

"You're just okay with this?" She had to ask, "You're going to let them keep you captive without even batting an eye?" Damon lowered his gaze as if ashamed. "Don't you have a dream that you want to turn into reality? Or do you want to live the rest of your life like this?" She gestured with her hand to their surrounding, the luxurious garden looking nothing more than a prison now that she knew how Damon lived, "Like a bird in a golden cage?"

Damon raised his legs, hugging them with his arms. He leaned his chin on top of his knees, looking scared of her and resigned to his future in equal parts. Elena, realizing her violent emotions were doing more damage than good, breathed deeply to calm down. She didn't want him to be scared of her, that was the opposite of what she wanted. She wanted him to be comfortable in her company, to feel like he could talk to her about anything. She just found difficult to reign in her emotions at the defeat she saw in him.

"I do have a dream, you know?" His voice was so soft that she had to focus to hear him.

She moved closer to him. "What is it, Damon?" If he still had a dream, it meant that he still wasn't completely resigned to his fate.

"I'm not going to tell you. You would laugh at me." He sounded so sure of it that Elena wondered if he, perhaps, had really been laughed at for his dream.

"I would never do such a thing, Damon." And it was the truth; she would never laugh at anyone's dream. "I've known you for just a little more than a month, and I already know what a wonderful man you are." She saw him looking at her from the corner of his eye, a light blush on his cheek appearing at her words. "I'm sure your dream is as wonderful as you are"

Damon touched his forehead to his knees, debating whether to tell her or not. This felt like a turning point in their relationship. He could trust her and tell her his dream, opening up to her like he had never done with anyone else, not even his family, or he could stay silent and put an end to everything. He gripped his legs tightly, mustering up the courage to do what he had to. He only had one option really, when he thought about it. He was already in too deep to turn back now. He sighed deeply.

"Okay." He finally said and Elena felt elated that he wanted to trust her. "But I can't tell you. I have to show you."

After his words, he rose up and took her hand. He started in the direction that lead to the deepest part of the forest, dragging her behind him. Elena wondered what he wanted to show her. As far as she knew there was nothing remarkable in that direction, only the white wall that delimited the Mikaelsons' property. She had walked past that wall so many times during her turn of patrolling, she had lost count but she had never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Maybe Damon knew some secret passageway that led to the thing he wanted to show her.

"I hope you're not planning on killing me and burying my body out here." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

When the only answer she got from Damon was the corner of his mouth slightly twisting up, she decided to just remain silent. She focused instead on the feeling of his hand clasping hers. His skin was so smooth and soft that she was a bit jealous of it. She wasn't surprised by it, though. He had the hands of an artist, used only to the feeling of a paint brush or the keys of a piano. She absentmindedly thought that she liked this about him, his talent for music and drawing. They gave him a certain cultured air that she found incredibly attractive.

"We're here." Damon's voice infiltrated in her musings.

Just like she expected, there was nothing but that wall. It was made of white concrete, thirteen feet tall. It stood there, massive, towering over them with its silent built, a silent sentinel. Only the trees could rise higher then it, their tops standing out against it. Elena turned to Damon, waiting for him to explain why they were there. He let her hand go and walked closer to the wall. His head tilted back, allowing him to look at the wall in its entirety.

"You asked me what my dream is," he said, his back to her, "this is it." He rested his let hand against the concrete. "I want to know what's on the other side of this wall."

Elena got closer to him but did not move to touch him. She knew he was feeling vulnerable right now, and she didn't want to make this harder for him than it already was.

"I know that there are only trees on the other side of it," he went on, his voice getting stronger the longer he talked, "I can see them from the window in my bedroom, and I think there's a river not far from here." He closed his eyes, listening to the silence. "If I concentrate I can hear the distant sound of running water."

Elena didn't need to concentrate to hear it. Her vampire hearing told her that there was, in fact, a river close by. But Damon couldn't know that, he could just rely on intuition. Elena couldn't imagine living confined in one place, never to leave it. Only now could she start to understand the depth of Damon's loneliness. For a man as bright as he was, never leaving this place was pure torture.

"But there is so much more than that in this world!" He exclaimed, the fingers of his left hand clawing at the wall. "Plains of sand, frozen earth, flaming water...The man who will get to see all of that, will be the freest man of all!"

Elena's left hand covered his, her fingers intertwining with his, while her free hand came to rest between his shoulder blades. She could do nothing for him right now, no amount of words could offer him the freedom he desired. However, she could not stop the words that came tumbling out of her lips.

"One day, I will take you with me to see the world beyond this wall." She told him, knowing that what she was promising would be hard to realize. "I swear to you that I will, Damon."

He turned to look at her. When he saw with what determination she was speaking, he felt the need to tell her how much her words meant to him. He wanted to tell her everything he was feeling, maybe she would be able to explain to him why his heart was beating so furiously in his chest, why his stomach felt as if thousands of butterflies were flying around in it. But he couldn't get the words past the lump in his throat.

In the end he just nodded, believing in her and in the sincerity of her words.


	8. What The Heart Wants

**AN: I know I'm late but here is the new chapter! For those of you who wanted more Delena romance, this chapter is perfect for you. At least I think so ; )**

**I don't know if I answered to all those who reviewed, please tell me if I didn't because I want to answer to everyone.**

**There is a piano piece to listen to in this chapter. You're not forced to listen to it but, when you'll reach that part, if you want there is a link to the piece I chose at the end of the chapter.**

**Let me know what you think of this chapter!**

**PS: some of you expressed the idea of Caroline being in a relationship with someone. While I want that too, I still don't know who she will end up with. Feel free to let me know if you have any advice!**

**PPS: Apparently the link doesn't work so search 'Ludovico Einaudi - Indaco' on YouTube**

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><p>Chapter 8 – What The Heart Wants<p>

_When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object. _

_- Milan Kundera - _

Elena woke up feeling as tired as ever after her restless night. She huffed throwing away the covers and getting out of bed. She marched into the bathroom intent on taking a hot shower. Maybe the hot water hitting her skin would help her relax a bit. As soon as she was enveloped in the steam of the shower, she let herself drift back to the previous day and to the promise she had made to Damon. She could still recall perfectly every emotion that had coursed through her at his words. She knew that she had spoken hastily but she didn't regret a word that had come out of her mouth.

Elena took the bottle of shampoo from the little shelf on her left and poured some of it on top of her head, gently massaging her scalp. As crazy as her words had been, she had believed in every one of them. It didn't matter how hard it was going to be, she would make sure to keep her promise at all costs. The truth was that when she was with Damon, she felt like her only purpose in the world was to make all his dreams come true. She didn't exactly know where that need came from, all she knew was that Damon felt a lot like fate, like she had no choice but to be with him. It was like her life, somehow, was tied to his in a way that couldn't be undone now.

She tilted her head back to rinse the shampoo from her hair. With her eyes closed, Elena pictured Damon's face staring at her. Thanks to her vampire senses she could recall every little detail about him: the pitch black color of his hair that could put to shame the darkest of the nights, his white smooth skin that reminded her of all things pure, his long lashes encasing eyes so blue that could see right through her soul. She could feel her stomach somersaulting at the thought of him, a smile stretching her lips without her even realizing it. Her Damon was the most beautiful creature in the whole of creation.

_Her?_

She gasped, sputtering when she choked on the water coming from the shower. When had she started thinking about him as hers? She felt like her dead heart hammered in her chest at the implications behind her stray thoughts. With eyes wide open, she stared at the tiles in front of her. She didn't know when but she had stopped thinking about him as just a friend. She hadn't even realized it, the feelings slowly creeping in, filling her without her even taking notice. How could she have been so careless? How had she not seen this coming from a mile away? Since the day she had sneaked a peek at him in the garden, Elena had felt some sort of connection between the two of them, something she hadn't been able to explain.

She didn't know how to define what she felt for him. Her feelings were a complete mess when it came to him. Plus she had never been that great when it came to listening to her heart, preferring instead to face things with a logical approach that stemmed from her mind. She was sure of only one things though: she definitely did not consider Damon _just_ a friend. Where that left her, though, she had no clue. She was tempted to just tell him and see how he'd react. From what she had seen, he was not indifferent to her. Sometimes she caught him looking at her with eyes full of affection and maybe something more. She had never paid too much attention to it, but maybe he felt the same way she did.

Elena stepped out of the shower and dried herself with one of the fully towels in the bathroom. While she put some clothes on for the day, she continued to ponder on her issue. The thing was, the situation was not the best. Elena had her mission to worry about and starting a relationship with Damon could compromise that. And that was without considering the Klaus factor. A potentially deadly factor, if she were being honest. Elena wished that Caroline could be there with her, she always knew what to say and what to do when it came to matters of the heart.

While she went downstairs to grab a blood bag to start her day, she couldn't help the warm fuzzy feeling that ran through her body. Even though things were unclear and potentially messy, it was nice feeling this way again. Elena had obviously had more than one boyfriend in her lifetime but what she was feeling now, however, brought her back to her first crush in high-school: Matt Donovan. It was the same kind of feeling of when you first realized that you wanted more than friendship from someone. Since her brief relationship with Stefan six year ago, she had had no other boyfriends and she was starting to get lonely. Damon changed everything. She felt so good when she was with him, like she could do anything.

When she finally grabbed a blood bag, Elena decided to drink it in the living room hoping to catch a glimpse of Damon. They were to meet in the afternoon but after her epiphany, she wanted to see him as soon as possible. When she rounded the corner to enter the living room, her wish got granted. The object of her desires, was not alone however. Damon wasn't watching the TV alone for once, instead he was playing a game of pool against Klaus. Rebekah, Elijah and Enzo were there too. The blonde vampire kept throwing witty remarks against Klaus, hoping to distract him to give Damon a bit of an advantage. Elijah, always the peacekeeper, was giving some pointers to the human while simultaneously telling his sister to please stop ruffling Klaus's feathers. Enzo, casually leaning against the wall by Elijah's side, was surveying the scene with his satisfied smirk always in place.

Elena slowly sipped the blood from her bag, keeping her eyes on them. Damon looked genuinely happy around them and, she had never thought she would think something like that, Klaus and the other Originals seemed happy too. They looked a lot like a family. Damon had told her several times that the ancient vampires were all the family he had. Nonetheless, she had never truly understood what he meant. She couldn't imagine feeling at ease around them. Now, though, watching him smile and laugh with them, she really saw what had always been right in front of her eyes. This was Damon's world. A world she could not be a part of. Even if he miraculously felt the same way she did, things between them could never work out. Klaus and the others would never accept her, just like she would never be able to accept them. Without acceptance and trust, things could not work. And that was without considering all the secrets she still kept, all the things she had never told Damon.

Accompanied by those sullen thoughts, Elena met with Damon that afternoon. Usually they would meet outside, partly because it was so much nicer to just breath into the fresh air and partly because it was simply easier to avoid getting caught. That day, however, they had to meet in the small living room, the one where they had first talked, thanks to thunderstorm raging outside. It had come out of nowhere around noon, unexpected since the sun had been shining all morning.

She had to admit that it was nice, though, staying inside for once. She and Damon were sitting on the windowsill where the human had been sitting a month ago when they met. With their backs leaning against the opposites walls and their legs intertwined in the middle, she felt happy even if she could not stop her thoughts from wondering into dangerous territory.

"I love thunderstorms," Damon said, his eyes staring at the lightning cutting the dark sky in two every once in a while. "They're the perfect embodiment of nature's power."

"You're right. They are." Elena answered in a soft voice, staring at him.

Being this close to him was getting hard. On the one hand she wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them, fusing their lips together. On the other hand, the thought of the impossibility of their relationship made her heart ache. What was she supposed to do? How could she get out of this situation? The chaotic weather outside was a perfect mirror of the turmoil she felt raging inside of her.

"Elena, are you okay?" Damon was now looking at her with concerned eyes.

He had immediately picked up on her sullen mood, but had shrugged it off to a dislike of thunderstorms. Now, though, he was starting to get the feeling that things were a lot more complicated than that. He didn't like this. When Elena wasn't feeling okay, he could feel it in his stomach. He had read somewhere that it was possible to feel what was called 'sympathy pain' and wondered if this was it. He wanted it to go away, not because he didn't want to feel it, but because he loathed the idea of Elena suffering.

"I'm fine, Damon. Don't worry, it's just the weather that's got me a little depressed." She smiled at him to reassure him, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" He could see she was hiding something and, whatever that something was, it was clearly eating away at her. "If you're having some kind of problem, tell me. Maybe I can be of help."

Elena smiled at him, trying to appear just a little melancholic, "I told you, it's just the weather. Before you know it, I'm going to be back to my chipper self." When Damon simply raised an eyebrow as if to tell her 'you really think I'm buying it?', she searched for something to tell him that would look like the truth. "Alright," she sighed. "I'm feeling a little homesick. Happy now?"

To be honest, it wasn't that far from the truth. She really did feel homesick and not just because she was far from Jäger. Sometimes she missed her old life, living with her parents and her brother. It was a simpler life, a life where she was surrounded by the warmth of her family. A time where there weren't missions to free an entire species, where she didn't have to go undercover to get closer to a man famous to be a tyrant.

"Don't get me wrong, Damon. I'm happy with my life, I met a lot of amazing people over the years," she told him looking at him with soft eyes. "But, sometimes I just get a little depressed when I think about my family, back when I was human. It'll pass, don't worry." She reached for his hand, entwining their fingers.

Damon didn't really know how to help her. Yes, he felt lonely sometimes but at least he always had his family around. Sometimes, he tried to imagine what his real mother and father looked like, if he had taken after his mother or his father. He looked in the mirror and imagined which one of his biological parents had passed down his black hair and blue eyes. He always came out blank, could never really build the image of someone else sharing those particular traits. In the end, he just considered himself lucky that he even had a family, even if it was an unusual one like his.

For Elena it was different though. Her parents died when she was young, a car accident when she was only sixteen she had told him. Her brother, though, he was alive and had a family of his own one that she couldn't be a part of to avoid complications. Damon didn't know how to make her feel like she was at home again.

Suddenly he came up with an idea. He straightened his back, his eyes gleaming. It was the perfect way to cheer her up and gave her his present. Now, he just had to plan everything. He squeezed her hand, making her turn toward him.

"I think I know how to chase away your bad mood." He beamed at her.

Elena tilted her head to the side, regarding him with a curious look. "How?" She questioned him.

His smile still in place, he leaned forward a bit to tell her of his plan. "Meet me tonight at 10 in the piano room. I need some time to prepare everything, plus at that hour no one goes into that part of the Mansion so we'll be fine on our own."

"Wait, what do you want to do?" He really wasn't telling her what he planned on doing to cheer her up.

"It's a surprise, I can't tell you what I'm going to do or it'll defeat the purpose." When he saw that she was still a little dubious he added, "Hey, don't worry. Trust me."

After those words, he left the room to prepare his surprise for the evening. He was a little nervous but he was confident that his plan would work. The thought of being the one to make a smile appear on her face, made his chest swell with pride. He wanted to repay her for all the happiness she had brought in his life. He wanted to show her the same kind of kindness. He knew it couldn't be easy for her to be in a place where she had no real friends except him. He probably understood that particular feeling better than anyone. So, he would do this for her.

Elena watched him go, still not sure about his plans for the evening, but trusting him with the decision. After all he had looked so elated at the idea of surprising her that she hadn't found the courage to shot him down. The power of those baby blues could make her weak in the knees. He probably didn't even realize what kind of power he had over her, and Elena didn't feel the need to point it out for him. Some things were better left unsaid and Elena had realized soon in life that, no matter what you may feel for someone, it was always better to be cautious instead of diving in head first.

With those thoughts in mind, she stood up ready to start her turn of patrolling. She mentally cursed Klaus for demanding the security guards to patrol the borders, even under the waterfalls of rain that were pouring down. Even though she grabbed a coat to go and relive the previous guard, she was sure that, come the end of her turn, she was going to be soaked to her bones. So much for taking a shower that morning. As soon as she was getting back in, she was going to throw herself into the tub for a relaxing bath before her meeting with Damon.

The guy she relieved threw her a look of pity from behind the curtain of his water dripping-hair. She smiled grimly at him, looking at the black sky with resignation before pulling the hood of her coat on. As soon as she stepped foot outside, she was hit by the force of the rain. She trudged on, narrowed eyes looking around for anything suspicious. She thanked her vampire senses once again, otherwise seeing anything at all in a range of six feet would have been downright impossible.

In the matter of hours, her feet started sinking into the mud at every step, making her already slow movements even slower. By the time she reached the end of her turn, she was cursing Klaus in every language she knew, sometimes even making up new words that could accurately describe the amount of hate she was feeling toward him. When she stepped inside the Mansion, the water dripping on the immaculate floor somehow repaying her a bit for the hours of misery, her mood sank even lower when she heard the _click_ of a photograph being taken. When she turned to her right, she saw Enzo with his phone raised and a shit-eating smile directed at her.

"You look like a bloody wet kitten, Gilbert!" He laughed, continuing taking pictures of her misery.

"Erase those photos immediately, Enzo." She growled in his direction, fists clenched at her side.

"Or what?" He asked her arrogantly, putting the phone in the safety of his pocket.

When she made a move to take it away from him, he vamp sped away not even allowing her to see in which direction he disappeared. Elena debated if it was even worth it running after him. The freezing water trickling down her back, made her reconsider her plans. She would think of a suitable act of revenge later, now she really needed that bath. While climbing her stairs, she decided that the following day all of Enzo's bourbon would mysteriously disappear. She knew how cranky he got without his alcohol, after a couple of hours he would reach the point where he would do anything for a glass of bourbon.

As soon as she stepped inside her room, she started stripping her damp clothes throwing them in the laundry basket. She immediately turned the faucets of her tub, letting it fill with hot water. While the water level rose, Elena poured in it some bath salts she was sure would work miracles when it came to relaxing a bit. When she deemed the tub sufficiently filled, she stepped in it moaning when she came into contact with the hot water. She could feel her muscles relaxing, the stiffness caused by working under the storm ebbing away.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but when the water started to cool it seemed like only seconds ago she was stepping into the tub. Reluctantly, Elena stepped out and started to pat herself down with a fluffy towel. Since her duties for the day were over, she decided to wear a simple pair of gray sweatpants and a warm black pullover. When she checked the time, she saw that it was already 9.50 in the evening. Quickly brushing her hair, she checked the hallway before leaving her room and walking toward the piano room downstairs.

Just when she was reaching for the handle, the door to the piano room was wrenched open and Damon grabbed her wrist, dragging her inside. When she turned to look at him, she saw him moving his hand in a sweeping motion in front of the door.

"What's that for?" she asked him, curiosity dripping from her voice.

He turned to look at her, an impish smile appearing on his lips, "Nothing, just a habit of mine."

Elena could tell he was lying to her but, since her day had already been stressful enough, she decided to let it go. She wanted to enjoy whatever it was that Damon wanted to show her. He took her hand and guided her toward the piano, making her sit down on the bench in front of it. He took place beside her and raised the lid that covered the keys. He turned to look at her, emotions that she could barely decipher filling his eyes.

"This is my surprise for you," he said gently caressing the keys of the piano.

"Your piano?" Asked him Elena. She already knew that the piano was his, it had been one of the first things he had told her taking great pride in it.

"No, not the piano," answered Damon. "I mean, yes but..." He stammered. He pinched his nose, heaving a deep sigh to collect his thoughts. "Do you remember when you told me that your father used to play the piano for your mother? And that you and your brother loved to listen to the music he played?" Elena nodded silently, wanting to know where he was going with all this. "Well, when you first approached me with the idea of becoming friends, you said you were lonely because you were far from home. So, when later you told me that your father used to play the piano, I thought that maybe I could do something to make you feel a little closer to home." He twisted his hands in his lap, his eyes never leaving hers. "I composed a brief sonata for you. I thought maybe you would appreciate it."

Elena didn't know what to say. No one had ever done something like that for her. She wasn't sure how to react so she just said, "You composed something for me?"

Damon shyly nodded, "Yeah. It's nothing grandiose but, I would like for you to listen to it." He hesitantly asked for her permission. Now that he was actually about to play for her, he was starting to get antsy, the fear that he might screw things up clawing at his chest.

Elena jerkily nodded, overwhelmed by the emotions that were cursing through her body, "I would love to listen to it, Damon." She barely managed to keep her voice firm. Had she been human, her heart would have jumped right out of her chest.

Damon smiled at her answer and reached for a small remote set on top of the piano. He turned and pointed it at the wall at their backs. When Elena looked in that direction she noticed a stereo placed against the wall. When she threw a look at the corners of the room, she saw the four speakers connected to it. How had she never noticed them? When she had first visited this room, she was sure they hadn't been there. Damon noticed her confusion and instantly explained to her the presence of the speakers.

"I brought them here from my room." He informed her. "That's what I meant when I said I needed some time to prepare. The piece I composed is for piano, violins and cello and, since I can only play one instrument, I recorded the part for the violins and the cello so I could play the piano part."

Elena was once again stunned by the lengths Damon had gone for her. This had to be the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. And why wasn't she surprised by the fact that he not only knew how to play the piano, but the violin as well? She shook her head with a small smile at the thought. Suddenly, a thought infiltrated in her mind.

"Won't the others hear us?" She wanted to know.

Damon shook his head, "I already took care of it. Trust me." When Elena nodded, trusting that he knew what he was doing, he continued. "Are you ready?" asked her Damon, the remote in his hand in position pointing toward the stereo.

"Whenever you want, Damon." She beamed at him. A feeling of excitement was growing inside her. Now that she had started to process the magnitude of his gesture, she couldn't wait to hear what masterpiece he had created.

He pressed the play button on the remote, setting it back down on top of the piano before turning toward it. He raised his hands and lightly positioned them on top of the keys, waiting for his clue to start playing. The soothing notes of a violin filled the room and, a couple of seconds later, Damon started to accompany them with the notes of his piano. The melody started quietly, picking up strength after a minute before going back to its soothing tones. The piano and the violins created a wonderful contrast, almost going back and forth between them. Sometimes the violins would be the main protagonists just to be substituted by the piano.

After two minutes, Damon picked up his pace, the note he created becoming more forceful and low. The violin stole the scene once again, immediately followed by the light solo of the piano. Elena could feel the back and forth of the two instruments inside of her. It felt like two opposite forces trying to prevail one on the other. However, only when they worked together their true beauty could be appreciated. Just like her feelings for Damon. All day she had thought about what to do. The fear of the possible consequences of their possible relationship, battling with the need to just tell him everything. Let the chips fall where they may.

She turned to look at Damon. He had his eyes closed and his body gently swayed while he played. His hands moved with delicateness over the keys, pressing them gently but firmly. He seemed completely wrapped up in his world made of notes and sounds. He had never been more beautiful in her opinion. Seeing him so serene while doing something he loved, made her heart swell in her chest. And suddenly, she knew that what she felt for him was nothing like the crush she had had for Matt Donovan in High-school. There was only one word to describe the way she felt when she saw him, when she was near him. Love. How had she not realized this sooner?

When the final notes resounded in the room, Elena immediately felt their loss. She could have gone on listening to his music forever. Damon's hands stilled over the keys. Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned to look at her, an hesitant smile on his lips. His eyes widened in shock when he looked at her.

"Elena, what is wrong? Why are you crying?" He asked her, bewildered.

Elena raised her hand and touched her cheek with her fingers. She hadn't even realized she had been crying, however, the wetness on her fingertips was telling. She tried to speak, wanting to reassure him that she had absolutely loved his music but, when she made to open her mouth, she chocked on a sob. Her breast heaved with the strength of her gasping breaths. Damon reached for her hands, gripping them tightly in his. His eyes were wide and terrified, the force of her reaction unsettling him.

"Elena, calm down. Please, what is wrong?" He pleaded her, begging her to tell him what he had done wrong. "You didn't like it? Did you find it horrible?"

Elena shook her head, feeling sick at the thought that he believed she hadn't enjoyed his composition. Unfortunately, the harder she tried to control her breathing the worse it became. With every passing second filled with her sobs, Damon felt more and more humiliated. He had thought that she would have appreciated his efforts, that all the hard work and the passion he had employed while composing would have conveyed the depth of his feelings for her. Yet, there she was. Sobbing her heart out, clearly distressed by the music she had heard.

"I'm so sorry, Elena. I thought I was doing the right thing." He started to apologize, wanting nothing more than to escape to his room. "I'm sorry you didn't like it. I never wanted to cause you th―" He never finished his sentence.

The moment Elena had heard his apologies, the anguish in his voice caused by her reaction to the overwhelming feelings that were cursing through her, she had done the only thing she could think of to stop him. Wrenching her hands from his grip, she had raised them to his face, cupping it. With her fingers threading in his ebony locks, she had pulled his face toward hers touching her lips to his. She swallowed his words, moving her lips against his. He didn't immediately respond to her kiss, taken aback by her gesture. However, when she gently coaxed him with minute movements of her lips, he closed his eyes and kissed her back.

When Elena felt him respond to her, her stomach unclenched and her whole body relaxed. He was moving hesitantly, his awkward movements telling her that he wasn't used to this kind of physical contact. Judging by the way he had lived his life, she wouldn't have been surprised if this was his first kiss. With that thought in mind, she set to make the experience as pleasurable as she could. She slightly changed the angle of their kiss so as to ease their movements. With her fingertips she massaged his scalp, every once in a while lightly twisting the hair at the nape of his neck. When she heard the soft moan coming from the back of his throat, she lightly smiled in the kiss.

She parted from him for a moment, allowing him to draw a breath, before diving back in. This time she decided to push him a little more. She delicately bit his lower lip, soothing it immediately with a swipe of her tongue. When he gasped, surprised, she took advantage of it to deepen the kiss. The moment her tongue swept against his, everything changed. Damon's hands, previously idle, gripped her waist and he surged forward kissing her with everything he had. What he lacked in experience he certainly made up for in passion.

When they separated, he rested his forehead against hers breathing deeply. His eyes met hers and she was relieved to see nothing but joy in them. She smiled at him, one of her hands still in his hair while the other cupped his cheek.

"What was that for?" He asked her in a breathy whisper.

Elena softly chuckled at his stunned expression, "I needed to stop you before you could belittle your music any more."

"So..." He trailed off, uncertain.

"I loved it, Damon," she reassure him, her fingers gently tracing his features, her thumb sweeping over his kiss swollen lower lip. "It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

Damon's only reaction was to kiss her again.

* * *

><p>Later that night, after the two of them had separated with the promise to talk more about what had happened between them, Elena lay in bed. It didn't matter that things were going to be complicated, what with her mission and the Originals. Damon was worth it. Of that she was sure. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell to sleep with a huge smile on her lips.<p>

She woke up hours later. She frowned, trying to understand what had made her rise from the dreamland. When she listened to the quiet night, she heard it. There were footsteps outside of her room, in the hallway. Elena sat up. No one was ever up in the middle of the night. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her gut.

She silently stood up, barefooted, and decided to investigate.


	9. A Dagger In The Night

**AN: Here is the ninth chapter all for you guys! This chapter is all action. I hope I did a good job with this since I'm currently battling with the flu (it figures that I would catch the flu right when I have to study for my exams, just like every time may I add!)**

**I want to thank you all for the reviews, even the Guest ones. You're all amazing and you can't possibly realize how much you support means to me. I hope you're all having an amazing Christmas time, I sure am! Lastly I want to wish you all a Happy New Year with the hopes that all your dreams may come true!**

**WARNING: there is violence in this chapter, though I tried to keep it mild.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9 – A Dagger In The Night<p>

_I guess what scares me the most now is the thought that I won't be able to protect you._

_- Julia Hoban - _

Elena moved without making a sound, her eyes fixed on the dark figure advancing in front of her like a ghost. The only sound, albeit almost imperceptible, was that made by the steps of the intruder. Upon being woken up by the sound of footsteps outside her room, Elena had slowly opened the door to the hallway, her ears already tuning in on the unusual sound. It seemed like the intruder was in search of something. He, although _he _could have been a _she _since it was too dark to distinguish his or her gender, stopped at every door and tilted his head to the side listening to the silence for a couple of seconds before moving to the next door. Elena had waited for the stranger to get almost to the end of the hallway before she started to follow him.

Whoever the intruder was, he moved slowly to minimize the amount of sounds produced by his steps. Every once on a while, the figure turned to look over his shoulders. Elena would quickly hide in the shadows, halting her breaths to become completely immobile. When the intruder moved again, she would wait a bit to be sure that she hadn't been spotted. So far the stranger had stopped in front of every door of the wing. He didn't show any sign of having found what he was searching for, moving toward the stairs probably to search the opposite wing.

Since he stopped only in front of the doors leading to the various bedrooms, it seemed like he was searching for someone instead of something. Elena furrowed her brows. The whole situation was weird. If the intruder was looking for a precise person, it was careless to break into the Mansion without even knowing where the target was. Having to wander around maximized the chances of being found out, as shown by the fact that Elena was now keeping an eye on the stranger. Everything about the situation stunk of carelessness which could mean only one thing: whoever that figure was, he was desperate. He needed to do whatever it was that he had to do, and he had to do it quickly.

Elena started to think of the best course of action to stop this irresponsible man. On the one hand, she was in advantage. He didn't know he was being observed, something that gave her the chance to study him and assess the situation. On the other hand, his desperation made him dangerous. If he had felt forced to act so hastily, it meant that he was prepared to do whatever it took to complete his task.

Elena narrowed her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the stranger's features. She was sure that, whoever that figure was, it wasn't a member of Jäger. Alaric would have informed her of something like that, plus he had no reason to make someone else infiltrate the Mansion with her already on the inside. No, this one was someone else. Maybe it was a member of some rebel group who wanted to get revenge on Klaus. She felt she could dismiss the hypothesis of the intruder being a burglar. The security agents would have stopped him before he got to enter the Mansion.

She gracefully trailed behind the intruder, carefully balancing her weight on her feet as to avoid disrupting the silence. The dark figure stopped in front of another door, listened for a moment and then shook his head angrily before moving on. He had stopped outside almost every door in the hallway without finding what he was looking for. Elena's eyes followed his every move, hoping to catch some detail that could clue her in on his identity. She didn't like the fact that she could not anticipate the reactions of the stranger in case she needed to stop him. Would he run? Attack her? Call for backup?

While she was thinking about those possibilities, the stranger finished checking the last room. He hung his head, a clenched fist lightly trembling at his side. When he raised his head again, he moved swiftly toward the stairs. Elena moved quickly, wanting to avoid the possibility of losing sight of him. The intruder had now reached the foot of the stairs and was moving toward the opposite staircase going up those stairs and taking a left, to were the bedrooms of the Originals were situated. Elena had been around that part of the Mansion only a couple of times. Both times, it had been on Klaus's orders. The thought of going down that hallway to kill Klaus had entered her mind more than once, only the insanity of that idea keeping her from putting it into action.

Elena smiled bitterly, the irony of the situation not lost on her. Here she was, following an intruder to stop him in case he wanted to hurt one of the Originals. At least that's what she thought the stranger wanted to do. She stopped at the beginning of the hallway, half-hidden behind a wall. From that position she would be able to intervene promptly if necessary, though she really didn't believe that the guy was capable of killing an Original, whoever he was. She absentmindedly wondered where the Guard Corps were. Wasn't protecting Klaus and his family part of their duties?

She leaned forward a bit, her head peeking out of the corner. She could see the figure passing by the first two doors, completely ignoring them since they were empty. Elena narrowed her eyes. _So he's not completely without intel_. Those two rooms were supposed to belong to Finn and Kol, the other two members of the Original family. Finn had disappeared so many centuries ago that most people considered him nothing more than a myth. Kol, however, had vanished only a couple of decades before. No one had ever heard of him again. Elena made a mental note to ask Damon if he knew something about Kol and his whereabouts. From what Alaric had told her, Kol had never really cared about Klaus or any of his bothers. He could be a powerful ally if they could find something to entice him with.

The stranger stopped in the middle of the hallway, tilting his head to the side as if focusing on something. Elena saw him turn his head to his right. If she remembered correctly, and she did, in the direction of his stare there was a winding staircase that, as far as she knew, led to the attic. Elena had never gone up those stairs, her dislike for small cramped spaces filled with dusty old things had been enough to make her turn away. The intruder took a couple of steps closer to the stairs, his head raised as if his eyes could penetrate the ceiling to see what was on the other side of it. After a couple of seconds, he moved, disappearing from her sight when he started climbing up the winding staircase.

Elena mentally cursed, counting to five in her head before walking down the hallway to reach the stairs. She didn't know why someone would want to go up there. She had been sure that the man wasn't a burglar, but now she didn't know what to think. There was nothing up there that could be of any interest. People used attics to store the things they didn't want around getting in their way, things they didn't use anymore. Even if this guy was searching for Klaus's weapon like she was, he would never find it in there. Klaus wasn't that stupid, quite the contrary actually.

Elena started to climb the stairs. When she was half-way up, she sat down on a step and closed her eyes, listening. Her vampire hearing zoned in on the soft footsteps above her. The stair was the only way to escape so, to avoid being caught, she would have to remain down there where she could quickly climb down and hide before the stranger could see her when he made to go back down. For a while she could only hear the barely-there sound of his feet hitting the ground, and she allowed her body to relax. Soon he would discover that there was nothing up there and he would come back down, empty-handed. What she heard, however, made her blood run cold.

The sound of a blade sliding out of its sheath.

Elena's eyes snapped open. Before she could even realize it, her body had already sprung into action. In a second, she was already at the top of the stairs ready to fly down the small hallway in front of her. Her mind, completely separated from her body, was running on different tracks. She had been a stupid thinking that she knew everything. Because, when she thought about it, she realized that the attic was not full of old discarded things. No, up there was something priceless.

Damon.

Elena frantically ran down the hallway, barreling into the door slightly ajar. How many times had she wondered where Damon's room was? How many times had she simply disregarded the reality in front of her, screaming the answer to her question? Five rooms, two empty and the other three belonging to Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah. And right in the middle of that same hallway, a winding staircase that led to the attic. Anonymous, easily ignored, inconspicuous. So much like Damon himself. He was so incredibly special that people refused to look at him, afraid of reading their bland normalcy reflected in his eyes. And now, because of her stupidity, she was about to lose him.

As soon as she tumbled into the room, the door broken at her feet, she noticed two things: the first was that the guy she had been following was not a guy. With short blonde hair, the end of which stood out in all directions, a curvaceous body encased completely in black clothes, the person standing by the side of the canopy bed on Elena's right was clearly a woman. Somehow, in spite of everything, the thing that stood out the most were the bright pink painted fingernails of the hands holding the woman's dagger. Which brought Elena to the second thing she noticed: the dagger poised just over Damon's heart.

Elena saw red. This woman wanted to kill Damon, to take him away from her. With a roar coming from deep within her chest, Elena launched herself at the woman. With her right hand she took a hold of the woman's wrist, locking the dagger in place, while her left hand grabbed a handful of the spiky blonde hair wrenching the woman's head back. Aided by a swift kick at the back of the woman's right knee, Elena was able to send her opponent sprawling to the ground, the clattering of the dagger as it hit the ground accompanying her. Before the woman had the chance to stand up, Elena grabbed her by the lapels of her black leather jacket and hurled her across the room. She hit the opposite wall with a low moan, crumpling to the ground.

Damon, woken up by the ruckus in his room, sat up in bed trying to get his bearings. With a flick of his wrist he turned on the lights. The first thing he noticed was the body of a woman, slumped on the ground by the opposite wall. He didn't even have the chance to start making sense of that particular sight, when a slight movement to his left captured his attention. His eyes widened when he saw Elena, arms wide at her sides and legs bent, in a crouched position. A low growling could be heard coming from her. Damon was sure that, if she were to turn to look at him, he would see her with her vampire visage hiding her features.

When he felt like he could talk he asked, "Elena, what is going on?" The perplexed tone of his voice betraying his confusion.

"I don't have time to explain now. It's not over yet." Elena's words were a little difficult to make out, probably because she had to talk around her fangs.

"Not over? What do you mean?" He spoke, shaking his head. Everything was happening so quickly that he had no idea what to do. His sleep muddled brain still hadn't had the time to connect the dots to figure out how what he was seeing, applied to the situation.

Before Damon could figure out an answer, the woman stood up shaking her head to clear it. Elena saw some of the superficial cuts caused by the fall, heal in front of her. A vampire. Elena would have to be careful. While she had succeeded in throwing her off Damon, that had been the result of her surprise attack. She had no idea how old the woman was, for all she knew she could be centuries old putting Elena at a disadvantage. The woman looked her in the eyes, weighting her possibilities. When Elena saw her bending her knees, a clear sign that she was about to move, she only had a couple of seconds to react.

The woman sprung forward with incredible speed. She clearly wanted to ignore Elena, her focus on Damon. Elena barely managed to grab the woman's right arm right when she was about to pass by her. Still holding her arm, Elena twirled in place positioning herself at the woman's back wanting to immobilize her by grabbing her free arm. Using all her strength, Elena tried to pin her arms against her sides, limiting her movements. The reaction of the other woman was instantaneous. Planting her feet firmly on the ground, the blonde pushed against Elena making both of them fall to the ground.

Upon impact, Elena's head slammed to the ground. The hit made her lose her grip on her opponent's arms, freeing her. The blonde vampire turned in the fraction of a second, her hands closing around Elena's neck. While she didn't need to breathe, thus she could not be chocked, if the other woman tightened her grip enough, she could decapitate her in an instant. Judging by the strength of her hands, the woman was older than Elena. Even though it was futile, Elena closed her hands around the woman's wrists pulling on them to break the hold. Meanwhile, she twisted her body hoping to throw the older vampire off her. However, the blonde didn't budge.

Suddenly, the woman screamed in pain relinquishing her hold on Elena's neck. The blonde, a furious look in her eyes, turned around. When Elena craned her neck to see what she was looking at, she saw a wide eyed Damon standing behind her. What was he doing? Didn't he understand that he had to run? Hissing in pain, the older vampire stood up and pushed Damon away sending him crashing against a bookcase in the corner of the room. With a quiet moan, he slumped to the ground not unconscious but clearly rattled.

"Damon!" Screamed Elena, when she saw him fall to the ground. He was only human, his body couldn't heal quickly like hers, and his mortal flesh wasn't made to be smacked around like a rag doll.

Elena quickly stood up and, tapping in her speed, she positioned herself between the woman and Damon's prone figure. She focused her hearing on Damon and heaved a sigh of relief when she felt the steady beat of his heart. He was only shaken, nothing more. When she brought her attention back to the woman, she saw the cause of her sudden pain: Damon had embedded the discarded dagger deep into her lower back. The blonde reached behind her and, grabbed the handle of the dagger, pulled it out. The wound closed, leaving nothing but blood to mark its spot.

"Move," the woman commanded, pointing the dagger at her. "I only have to kill him, but if you interfere any more I'll take you out too."

Elena's eyes narrowed, fury cursing through her body. "You take even one step in his direction and I don't care how much older than me you are, I will kill you." She meant every word. She would not let this woman take Damon away from her, not when she had just found him.

The woman tilted her head to the side, before moving in a blur. Elena was capable of avoiding the fist that was closing in on her face, grabbing the extended arm with both her hands. It was difficult to keep the limb still, the strength of the other vampire easily overpowered hers. When she looked to her right she saw the left hand of the woman, the one gripping the dagger, moving to impale her. Elena bent backward, the dagger passing in front of her, a thin red line appearing across her neck. Before the blonde could retreat the arm, Elena sank her teeth in her forearm. Her fangs tore away at her muscles, causing the older vampire to howl in agony, the dagger falling to the ground when her hand became useless thanks to the damage Elena had inflicted to her limb.

With her right hand, the woman punched Elena in the face to get her to release her forearm. Elena clenched her teeth, refusing to let go. The older vampire's blood was filling her mouth, dripping down her chin. When she realized that Elena had no intention of relinquishing her hold, the woman raised her left leg. She pressed her feet against the younger vampire's stomach and pushed, sending Elena flying across the room. Her flight was interrupted by a wooden table that crashed under her weight. Blinding pain spread from her right leg. When she lowered her eyes to the part in question, Elena saw that a piece of wood protruded from her upper thigh.

"You should have taken my advice." Said the blonde woman, kneeling in front of her. "I'm much stronger than you, you never stood a chance." She grabbed the piece of wood, twisting it in her leg.

Elena screamed in pain and tried to grab her hand to stop her. The older vampire, however, immobilized her hands with her free one. Elena glared at her, her brown eyes locking onto her green ones with indescribable hatred. Elena had fought against many opponents but had never shown cruelty to any of them, she could never find it in herself to deliberately cause pain to others without reason.

"Why are you doing this? What has he done to you?" She spat in her face, fighting against the hold on her hands. If she could just get free, she could punch her face gaining the time to wrench the makeshift stake free from her thigh and using it to impale her.

"Personally? Nothing." The blonde shrugged her shoulders, stopping the twisting of the wooden piece to pick up another shard of wood. "His existence, however, puts everyone at risk. Trust me, I'm doing a favor to everyone."

Elena could not understand a single word she said. Damon a risk to everyone? Was she even talking about the same man she knew? The man that wanted nothing more than leave this cage to look at the world with his eyes? The man that had composed that beautiful piano piece, just to make her feel closer to home? The man who had kissed her so sweetly? Elena couldn't imagine him being a threat to anyone. The woman could see the confusion in her expression.

"If you knew the things I know about what he is, you wouldn't defend him." She spoke with decision, as if convinced that she was right. "You would see that I'm doing the right thing."

Before Elena could form any kind of response, the woman pierced her stomach with the shard of wood she had picked up. Elena doubled over in pain, clenching her eyes against the tears of agony that wanted to escape. She refused to show any more weakness to this vampire. The woman stood up and picked up the dagger, walking toward Damon who was slowly sitting up, a hand massaging the back of his head. Elena's breath hitched when she saw the woman grabbing Damon's shirt forcing him to stand up. She had to intervene. Right. Now. She grabbed the wooden piece embedded in her thigh and, clenching her teeth, pulled it out. She made to grab the second piece in her stomach when she heard a muffled moan coming from the direction of Damon.

When she raised her eyes, she saw the woman reaching for her head with her hand, the dagger still firmly in her grip. Damon's eyes were focused on her, unblinking in their concentration, while his hands were tightly gripping the vampire's arm. The blonde vampire was moaning in pain, blood leaking out her nose, ears and eyes. It was a horrible sight and one that Elena could not make sense of.

"You're good," grunted the woman, swallowing her own moans. "But I'm old and this little trick won't stop me."

Elena saw everything happen in slow motion. The woman's hand lowering from her head, the point of the dagger now pointing toward Damon. That same hand moving slightly backward as if to gain enough momentum to inflict as much damage as possible. The dagger moving forward and coming closer and closer to Damon's body. Damon's eyes widening when the metal pierced his skin, sliding deeper and deeper in his abdomen. Damon's mouth opening to let out a blood curling scream that she would remember until the day she would die.

The woman extracted the blade, blood immediately pouring out of the wound. She let Damon fall to the floor, while he brought his hands to the wound trying to stop the bleeding. He curled on the ground, trembling, his eyes locking on Elena's. The amount of pain Elena felt at the sight in front of her, gave her enough strength to wrench the wooden shard from her stomach. She doubted that she could stand since the hole in her thigh was closing slowly, the amount of blood she had lost working against her healing ability. She gripped the makeshift stake in her hand and threw it against the woman, hoping to hurt her as much as she had hurt her Damon.

The woman easily deflected the stake hurled at her, turning to look at Elena with a smug expression. She walked closer to her, the bloody dagger dripping on the floor.

"I told you, you never stood a chance," she repeated, a light smile on her lips. "He'll die of blood loss," she pointed at Damon with her hand. "And you? From the expression on your face, I guess I would do you a favor killing you with him."

Elena could barely comprehend the amount of rage she felt inside of her, looking at this woman. One thing she could comprehend, however: Damon wasn't dead, he could still be saved. She didn't even want to think about the possibility of never feeling his soft lips pressed against hers. His fluttering heartbeat picking up when she got close to him. His shining blue eyes locking onto hers with unadulterated happiness, just because they were together. Since she was in no position to fight against this woman, she did the only thing she could think of. Something she would have never imagined she would do. She screamed the name of the last man she had ever thought she would call to help her.

"Klaus!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

She could only hope that the Original wasn't a heavy sleeper. Not even five seconds later she heard not one but three doors slamming open, downstairs. Elena smirked victoriously at the frightened expression on the woman's face. When the blonde vampire saw her, her eyes filled with fury. With a scream the older vampire launched herself against Elena, her intent of killing her clear. She had barely taken two steps, however, before being grabbed by her hair by an impossibly strong hand. Klaus slammed her to the ground, breaking her neck with a swift kick. He then looked at Elena, cocking his head at her presence in Damon's room.

Elena held his eyes weakly, the blood loss sapping her strength and bringing her to the brink of unconsciousness. "Damon." She whispered mournfully.

Klaus's eyes widened before turning to look at the young man. Rebekah and Elijah, who had entered the room after Klaus, were kneeling next to the dark haired human. The blonde Original had Damon's head in her lap, gently caressing his hair while he drank from Elijah's wrist pressed against his lips. Rebekah's eyes were looking at Damon with concern, while Elijah's were calm though you could see the distress hiding behind his carefully constructed mask. The last thing Elena saw before fainting, was Klaus kneeling next to Damon pressing a gentle hand against his cheek.


	10. Trust

**AN: Here we go with the 10th chapter! As always a thank you must be said to all those of you who read, reviewed, favorited, followed and so on this story. Without you this story wouldn't exist. I hope you're all having an amazing start of the new year even though some of you could be under exams. Here in Italy I'm about to start mine so, fingers crossed!**

**The TVD hiatus is almost over so that's a nice thought to have, if anyone needed some cheering up!**

**I've never done this before but I wanted to dedicate this chapter to Jairem. She has been following me since Game On and has reviewed every single chapter of that and this story, and if that's not been amazing then I don't know what is. Another reason for this dedicate is that, at first, this chapter was going to be different but her review made me change my mind and alter it a bit. I don't want to spoiler anything but I'm sure you'll understand what about your review got inserted here, Jairem.**

**I know that I have other regular reviewers and I will dedicate a chapter to them in the future, so stay tuned!**

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><p>Chapter 10 – Trust<p>

_Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships._

_- Stephen R. Covey -_

Elena slowly came back to consciousness. The first thing she was made aware of was the pounding headache that sounded a lot like drums trapped inside her cranium. Next were the dull aches in her left thigh and in her stomach. For a moment she felt disoriented, incapable of remembering how she got wherever it was she got. When she tried to recall the events that caused this pain, she just came up blank. With a low moan, coming from her parched throat, she slowly opened her eyes. The sun streaming in from the window in front of her bed forced her to shut her eyes, the headache rearing its ugly head.

After a couple of minutes, when she felt the dull throbbing subside a bit, she opened her eyes to slits letting them get used to the light. From what she could see, she was in her room under her covers. From the brightness of the sun she gathered that it had to be early morning. She had the feeling that she was forgetting something important, the reason for her current discomfort. Try as she might, she just couldn't put her finger on it. She cleared her throat, coughing when she felt just how dried it was. The ever present hunger for blood slammed into her, her fangs dropping desperate for it.

"Yes, you must be pretty hungry."

Klaus's voice cut the silence in the room. She turned to her right, where the voice had come from, and stared at the Original vampire sprawled on a red high-back armchair. Someone must have brought it from another room because she couldn't remember ever seeing it before. It was such a strange thing seeing him in her room that she needed a moment to understand the scene in front of her. Klaus was looking at her with an amused smirk, probably enjoying her confusion. He seemed relaxed and, when he tilted his head to the side, an image flashed behind her eyes. She could see him towering over her, the body of a woman on the ground between them. She couldn't place that image but figured it had something to do with the night before, the one she couldn't remember clearly. If only she could have some blood, everything would be so much clearer.

As if reading her mind, Klaus reached behind his armchair on the floor. He pulled up a red and white box, one of those usually used by hospitals to move organs for transplants. He opened it, reached inside and pulled out a couple of blood bags. Elena's eyes zoomed in on them, the veins under her eyes throbbing along with her fangs. With slow movements as if to taunt her, Klaus closed the box and put it on the ground, the blood bags resting in his hand. He regarded her with barely concealed amusement before stretching his arm toward her, offering her the blood bags.

"Drink up, love. You're going to need it for our next conversation." Even though the tone of his voice had been calm, Elena had the feeling that there was a threat in his words. She wondered if he was capable of speaking without sounding ominous.

She didn't muse too much on his words, though, her hands moving in a flash to grab the bags. A second later she brought one of them to her lips, tearing into it and moaning when the first drop of blood hit her tongue. She gulped down the first bag in a matter of seconds, immediately opening the other one. Had she been more herself, she would have felt embarrassed for her lack of restraint. Only baby vampires drank like that. To top it all off, she was guzzling down blood like an infant in front of one of the oldest vampires in existence. When she finished her second blood bag, she put the two empty bags on her bedside table to avoid staining the covers.

She turned toward Klaus, waiting for him to tell her what he was doing in her bedroom. Their eyes locked and Klaus leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. He stared at her for a while, his green eyes piercing hers. Elena could feel the hair at the nape of her neck standing up and tried to calm herself down. She had done nothing wrong that she could recall. She wasn't in danger. The older vampire narrowed his eyes as if searching for something in her.

"Tell me what you remember from last night." He wasted no time beating around the bush.

His abruptness left her reeling. Now that she had drunk some blood things were getting clearer but she didn't know if she could recall everything perfectly. The look on Klaus's face, however, told her that she'd better start talking before he lost his patience. Elena closed her eyes, took a deep breath to calm herself down, and concentrated. At first things were kind of fuzzy, blurred around the edges. The more she relaxed, though, the more she could make out what she was seeing. When she felt like she got a handle on things she started talking.

"I woke up in the middle of the night," she started, her eyes still closed. "At first I didn't know what woke me up but then I heard it: the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside of my room. I opened the door and looked outside. I saw someone, he..." she stopped, furrowing her brows. Something was wrong. A flash of pink painted nails crossed her mind. "..._she _was stopping outside of every room, listening for something."

Elena opened her eyes, looking at Klaus. He was looking intently at her, listening to her every word. He minutely nodded at her, signaling that she had to go on because things were far from over. Elena licked her lips and continued, her eyes open and looking at her covers. Klaus's stare unsettled her.

"At first I thought she was a burglar but I dismissed that thought immediately. She was checking the bedrooms so she was looking for someone not something." From Klaus almost imperceptible smile, she gathered that he appreciated the fact that she could use her head. "When she reached the end of the hallway, she looked angry. Clearly she hadn't found who she was looking for. When she went to your wing, I thought that maybe she was looking for you." She nodded in his direction.

"What made you think that I was the target?" asked her Klaus, he sounded curious as if he wanted to know her way of thinking. "Why not my brother Elijah or even Rebekah?"

Elena carefully chose her words, not wanting to sound disrespectful, "It's not a secret that some people out there don't appreciate your status as king." When she got no reaction from the Original, she continued. "The fact that a couple of days before we had killed off a group of rebels, made me think that someone close to them wanted retaliation. That, or she was from Jäger." Even though she knew that Alaric had nothing to do with the attack, she couldn't just exclude it from her report to Klaus. After all Jäger was Klaus's main opponent.

"No, it wasn't Jäger," Klaus's words surprised her. When he noticed her confusion he briefly explained, "Alaric is a thorn in my side but he wouldn't be so stupid as to send an assassin inside my Mansion. He'd prefer to be the one doing the killing."

"You know who the leader of Jäger is?" She spoke before she could think about her words. How did Klaus know who Alaric was? Why had he never done anything if he already knew what the German vampire was doing? She didn't even want to think about the possibility of Klaus knowing about her affiliation to the rebel group.

Klaus didn't answer her, he just smiled in that secretive way of his before crossing his legs and saying, "Do go on with your story, Love."

Elena shoved all her questions in the back of her mind, trying to bring up the memories from the night before. It was easier this time, the blood was clearly fixing her memories. She went back to the moment where the woman started climbing the stairs to reach the wing of the Mansion where the Originals slept. She remembered hiding behind a corner and peeking in the hallway. She saw the woman passing by Finn and Kol's bedrooms without stopping. She saw her pause in the middle of the hallway, her head turning to her right where the winding stairs lead to the attic. She felt a sense of dread taking a hold of her body because now she knew. There was no attic at the end of those stairs.

"She passed by Kol and Finn's bedrooms, she knew there was no one in there. Someone passed her that information," she told Klaus, her eyes fixed on her hands resting on the covers. She belatedly asked herself why there was a bandage over her right hand, but figured she could worry about that later. "When she reached the middle of the hallway she stopped, looked to her right. I didn't think anything of it, I thought that up the winding stairs there was only the attic. When she went up I followed her. I stopped halfway up the stairs so I could hide when she came back down."

"Then why were you inside Damon's bedroom?" Klaus's voice was pure ice. Elena realized why they were doing this. Klaus thought she had something to do with what happened, his paranoia flaring up and making him suspicious of her even though she had been trying to protect Damon. Elena knew that she had to defend herself and quickly.

"I heard her taking out a dagger," she told him firmly, showing him that she had nothing to hide. "When I heard that, I understood what was happening because why would she take out a dagger if she was only going to the attic." Klaus's eyes seemed to soften a bit. "I ran into the room and saw her with the dagger pointing at Damon's heart. I did the only thing I could think of: I fought her. She was far stronger than me and easily overpowered me. She told me she had to kill Damon and then she..." Elena stopped, remembering Damon's blood curling scream. Her eyes jumped to Klaus's, "Is Damon okay?" She suddenly asked frantically.

"He is fine, Elijah's blood healed him," Klaus answered her in a low voice.

Elena breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that Damon was okay was the most important thing for her. Nonetheless, she decided to check on him as soon as possible. Being told that he was all healed was one thing, but seeing it with her own eyes would be much better. Plus, she really wanted to go back to the kissing part. She wanted them to talk and be clear about what they were as to avoid any further complications, since they already had lots of them. When she turned to look at Klaus, she discovered that he had continued to stare at her. She wasn't sure but it looked like his eyes held a glint of appreciation for her, maybe even pride.

"It seems I misjudged you, Miss Gilbert," his voice was light, though not apologetic in the least. "I guess, in the end, I made the right choice in promoting you to Guard Corp."

Elena's eyes widened. Had he really said what she thought he'd said? She couldn't believe it. Suddenly, she understood what the bandage on her right hand was. With trembling fingers she tore away the cloth covering her right hand. There on the back of her hand, the black ink standing out against her olive skin, was the Hybrid tattoo of all the members of the Guard Corp. She caressed the ink with the fingers of her left hand and it felt cold to the touch, though she was probably just imagining it. She had done it, now she was one of them, she was as close to Klaus as she could get. Now he could kill her in the blink of an eye if he only suspected her of disobedience. She raised her eyes to look at Klaus. He was smiling coldly as if he had been reading her thoughts and wanted to confirm that he had that amount of power over her.

"Don't worry, Love," he smirked at her. "I will give you a task that I feel you'll enjoy. Since you did such a good job in protecting Damon, I want you to be his personal guard."

"What?" Elena could barely form those words, the surprises she'd had in the last twelve hours overwhelming her.

"You heard me right, Miss Gilbert." Klaus was completely serious now. "I want you to be his shadow. Where he goes, you go. From now on you'll sleep in my wing in Finn's or Kol's room, your choice. If anything happens to Damon, you'll wish you had never been born." She had no doubt that he meant those words. "Enjoy your new job, Love." With those words, he left her alone in her room.

For a while, Elena stayed immobile, her mind racing in all directions without managing to focus on one single thought. She tried to go one step at a time. First of all, Klaus had told her nothing about the blonde woman. He had only broken her neck so she guessed they were holding her somewhere for questioning. She mentally wrote down to ask Damon if he knew something, maybe the Originals had told him what they wanted to do with her. After all, he had all the reasons to know what was of his attacker. That train of thought brought her to Damon. Knowing he was fine had made that heavy feeling in her chest go away. She could still feel the fear and agony of the previous night. She never wanted to see him suffer in that way. Being his personal guard made her feel better. Now, she could personally make sure that nothing bad ever happened to him. Plus, they could spend time together whenever they wanted now without having to hide from others. That was certainly a nice improvement on things.

She ran a hand through her hair and, when she made to let it rest against the bed, her eyes locked on the black tattoo on the back if it. Becoming a member of the Guard Corp had been her mission since the beginning, now, however, she found herself at a loss. She had never really thought about the implications of becoming one of Klaus's closest minions, she thought that word with scorn. That black symbol was both the key that could set them all free or the reason of her demise. She wondered what death by Hybrid tattoo was like. Would it hurt? Would it be immediate? How did it work exactly? When she thought about that, she realized that she needed to find out how Klaus managed to discover who disobeyed his order. If she could do that, then she would know what to avoid. Once again, she decided to ask Damon about it. He had spent his whole life surrounded by Guard Corp members so surely he had discovered something about them.

Since her thoughts kept going back to the black haired man, Elena got out of bed and started to prepare herself for the day. When she opened her closet to choose what to wear for the day, she saw the black uniform of the Guard Corp that she had worn for the punishing mission. Was she supposed to wear that from now on? She shrugged her shoulders and picked a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve white shirt with a V-neck. She would have to ask around what the dress-code for the Guard Corp was, for now she would just dress the way she wanted to. She went into the bathroom to change and was hit by a thought when she discarded her blood stained trousers, evidently no one had thought about changing her clothes. Just before the blonde vampire had stabbed Damon, he had been doing something. She remembered seeing him look at the woman with unblinking eyes, and the blood leaking out of her eyes, ears and nose. The amount of concentration on his face made her think that he was the cause of the bleeding, but how could it be? Had she imagined everything? Maybe the blood loss had been so severe that her mind had started playing tricks on her. Because the more she thought about it, the more she realized that only one thing could have caused that bleeding: magic.

Elena quickly dressed herself, trying not to jump to conclusions. It was impossible for Damon to use magic, no one could use it anymore not since twenty-five years ago. She furrowed her brows thinking of Damon's age. She had never asked how old he was but he looked to be about twenty-five. Coincidence? She didn't know. Right now, however, she had no way of knowing if Damon had really used magic and before she went on and accused him of being some sort of Last Warlock, she'd better have some proof. With that thought in mind, she left the room to search for Damon. She already had a good idea of where he would be. After the night he'd had, he'd want to find a place where he could be at peace. Without the shadow of a doubt, Elena walked toward the garden and, once there, took off in the direction of their tree. Just like she thought, he was sitting there looking at the sky, soaking up on the stray sunshine rays that managed to hit his skin. As soon as he noticed her, Damon jumped up and ran to her. Elena let him envelop her in his warm embrace, tucking her head beneath his chin. His arms held her tightly to him, not afraid of hurting her since she was far stronger than him.

"God, Elena," he breathed against her hair, his right hand caressing her back. "You scared the hell out of me last night. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I had to protect you, Damon." She raised her head, looking him straight in the eyes. "That woman would have killed you had I not been there. Plus, I'm a vampire you had nothing to worry about." She leaned back a little in his embrace to let him see her body, "See? Not a scratch."

He looked at her intently as if wanting to make sure with his own eyes that she was alright. When he was satisfied with her state of being, he cupped her cheek with his left hand, his thumb moving back and forth tracing her features. When he bent down to kiss her, she eagerly met him halfway. When their lips touched, both of them relaxed instantly. This time it was Damon the one who deepened the kiss. With the hand cupping her cheek he moved her head, changing its angle. When she felt him trace her lips with the tip of his tongue, she immediately parted her lips allowing him entrance in her mouth. When their tongues started to dance in perfect sync, they both moaned. Everything was perfect, they were alright and together and that was all that mattered. The kiss seemed to go on forever, their lips moving tirelessly against one another, their hands moving, caressing hair, arms, necks. The only moments in which they separated were when Damon needed to breathe, moments that Elena filled with gentle kisses along his cheeks and the column of his neck. When she pressed her lips against the hollow of his throat he shivered deliciously against her.

When they finally separated, they just gazed at one another perfectly content in the silence. At a certain point, Elena remembered her original purpose for meeting Damon: to check that he was really alright. Without thinking she grasped the lower hem of his blue long-sleeve shirt and raised it to look at the place where the dagger had penetrated his skin. Damon just observed her, letting her check with her own eyes just like he'd done before. Elena gently ran her fingers over his unblemished skin, feeling the softness of it perfectly contrasting with the hard muscles of his abdomen. She had been right in her assumption that he liked to work out. He was okay, she knew that since she remembered seeing him drink Elijah's blood, but only now could she really believe it. His hand covered hers and she looked up at him.

"I'm okay, Elena," he reassured her, squeezing her hand.

She nodded at him with a beaming smile. She saw him lower his eyes to her hand. When she followed his gaze, she noticed that he was staring at her tattoo running his thumb over the black ink. Once again, she felt a surge of contempt at the sight of the Hybrid mark mixed with a sense of elation at the notion that she was one step closer to her objective.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" she asked him rhetorically, making his eyes jump up to hers.

"Why would you say that?" he asked, curious. "I thought that this was what you wanted."

She took her hand out of his grasp, moving to sit on the bench. He followed her silently, waiting for her to speak. She didn't know how to properly put into words what she felt at the sight of the tattoo. She couldn't tell him that it meant she was one step closer to destroying his family, thanks to her mission for Jäger, so she settled for half of the truth. Again. She wondered if they would ever reach the point where they wouldn't need to hide anything from one another.

"It is what I wanted," she started, turning to look at Damon. "But it's what this tattoo means that is horrible."

Damon furrowed his brows, "What do you mean?"

Elena thought about her words, trying to make him understand her point of view without offending him, "Klaus shouldn't have to rely on a tattoo to gain the loyalty of his subjects. He shouldn't have to rely on fear to make them obey. A king should be the one to protect his people, to make them feel safe. And to do that he'd need brave soldiers to enforce the law, yes, but they should do it out of loyalty to their leader. Not out of fear. That's not ruling, that's being a tyrant."

Damon remained silent while thinking about her words. She let him do that, hoping that he would understand that things were not as black and white as he seemed to think they were. He had lived his entire life inside this protected world and he saw things differently. He was good to his soul and found it hard to see the evil in the world. But he was smart and she knew that he was aware of some of the things that the Originals had done in the past. She would have to have faith in him and in his judgment.

"Then you wouldn't punish those who disobeyed?" he asked her, wanting to know what she thought. "Without those tattoos, Klaus cannot punish those who deserve it."

"Of course I would punish them, but with fair trials. Death is never a just punishment, Damon. Don't ever think that it is, no matter how justified it may seem." She could see the struggle in him, his beliefs battling with what she was saying. She decided to push him a little bit more, wanting him to understand how she thought, what moral she chose to follow every day, "Trust is the most important thing, Damon. And to have trust you need the truth. If Klaus doesn't trust his subordinates to obey him and they cannot trust him not to kill them if they disobey, then what's the point of all this?"

Damon's eyes clouded at her words. She said that trust stemmed from the truth but the both of them had things to hide. He knew that, while she had told him things about her past, about her family and friends, there were still a lot of things she hadn't told him. Like who had turned her into a vampire, what had she done in this thirty-seven years before coming to work for Klaus? And then there were all this 'friends' but she never mentioned their names or where they were, what they looked like, how she'd met them. The only time she did those things was when she was talking about her human friends, but surely in all these years she had made new vampire friends, right? He knew she was hiding something, but he never pried. Maybe she had undergone some traumatic experience and she didn't want to talk about it. He chose to believe that, because the alternative was that she _couldn't_ tell him those things because she didn't want him to know about them.

Damon sighed. It wasn't like he was better than her. He was hiding a lot of things too, things he had promised never to tell anybody. More than once he'd found himself about to tell her something on his past, on how he came to live with the Originals, but he never did. He needed to protect his family, they trusted him not to tell others about their secrets so how could he betray that trust? As much as he wanted to tell Elena everything, the love he had for Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah always stopped him. He wished that someday, somehow, he'd be able to share everything with her. Because when he looked at Elena he saw someone he could spend every moment with. He'd never been in love with anyone, he had no experience when it came to relationships, but he knew that what he felt for her was all encompassing. He knew that there wasn't going to be anyone else other than her. With those thoughts in mind he pulled her closer to him and kissed her with everything he had. He hoped that she could feel all that was welling up inside him, and that she deemed it enough. If they couldn't be completely truthful one with the other for now, than their feelings would have to be enough until they could.

When they separated, the atmosphere was still heavy around them so Elena decided to lighten up the mood, "Hey, I almost forgot," she said in a light tone of voice. "Klaus gave me another job."

"What do you mean?" asked her Damon, fearing that Klaus wanted her to transfer somewhere else.

Elena raised the tattooed hand and tapped the Hybrid symbol with the fingers of her left hand, "You're looking at your new personal guard," she beamed at him, happiness in her eyes.

"Are you serious?" he asked her, his blue eyes so wide that she wondered if he was going to hurt himself.

She nodded, a smile plastered on her face, "Apparently I have to be your shadow, Klaus' words," she could see the wheels turning in Damon's head and she leaned closer to him, their nose touching. "You know what this means?" she asked in a low seductive voice.

Damon blushed adorably, "No more sneaking around?" he asked in a whisper.

Elena pecked him on his lips, "No more sneaking around," she thought a little about what she'd said. "Well, maybe we could keep the kisses for when we're alone, what do you say?"

Damon smiled, moving closer to her, "Works for me."

Elena's laugh was caught short when Damon showed her how well it worked for him, kissing her like there was no tomorrow.

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><p><strong>That was all for now! Did you like it? Do you think that there's anything that ought to be changed? As always don't hesitate to leave me a review because, while I plan this story in advance, I always take into consideration your ideas!<strong>


	11. It Was You All Along

**AN: Hi, everybody! This chapter was a tough one, especially because for a moment I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish it in time for the update. I've been studying all week long but I think that, in the end, I managed to do justice to what I had imagined for this chapter. At the end you'll finally have some answers, though you'll have to wait for the next one to know more about Damon's past.**

**Thank you so much for the reviews! I wanted to answer personally to uck, but since you're a guest I'll have to do it here. I thought about posting twice a week but the truth is that, while I'd like for that to happen, I don't think I'll ever manage to do it. Right now and 'till the end of January, I have my exams to focus on and, after them, I'll have my classes at University to follow. The only time I have to write is in the evening, sometimes in the morning if I don't have classes. You will all have to be patient with me, I can at least guarantee that I'll update once a week but that's about the best I can do.**

**Wish me luck for tomorrow, I have my hardest exam of the month: Russian Language! Think as many happy thoughts as you can and send them to me, I'm gonna need them!**

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><p>Chapter 11 – It Was You All Along<p>

_Three things cannot be long hidden: the Sun, the Moon, the Truth._

_- Buddha - _

Elena, head thrown back and eyes closed, enjoyed the warmth of the sun hitting her skin in the early morning. Her left hand, palm open onto the grassy ground, supported her weight while her right one was currently running through Damon's raven hair. The young man was sprawled on the ground on her left, knees up so that he could lean his drawing-block on them, his head comfortably resting in her lap. Every once in a while, Elena lightly raked her nails along his scalp smiling when she heard the satisfied purring sound coming from deep within Damon's chest. He was like a big, lazy cat that wanted nothing more than to be spoiled. Not that Elena had anything against that.

Elena had to be honest, being Damon's personal guard had its advantages. She could, or better yet, _had_ to follow Damon wherever he went. That meant that they could finally have a conversation without worrying that someone could overhear them now. In the morning, she could now sit with him while he ate his human breakfast. Of course that meant that she had to share the table with the Originals, which wouldn't have been bad if Elijah had been the only one present. It was safe to say that Rebekah hadn't appreciated Klaus's decision of making Elena Damon's guard. She didn't like how close the brunette vampire was to Damon. Another drawback was Enzo. The smirking vampire absolutely loved to insert innuendos wherever he could, delighting in making Elena blush like a schoolgirl. At the beginning, Elena had hoped that Klaus would have put a stop to Enzo's inappropriate jokes, on the contrary, the Hybrid seemed to enjoy them. When she had turned to Elijah for help, he had simply pretended that nothing was happening.

The only pleasant outcome of Enzo's raunchy mouth was the blush permanently present on Damon's cheeks. While a lot of innuendos simply went over his head, the ones he could understand made him become as red as a tomato. Elena tried to hide her smile as much as possible, not wanting to mortify him even more, but it was simply adorable seeing him fidget in his chair trying not to choke on his cereals. She was constantly amazed by his innocence in just about everything. The more time they spent together, the more she became certain that he had little to no experience when it came to women. Not to say that he didn't take initiatives or that he didn't like to learn. She had lost count of the times he had pressed her against a wall or a tree, kissing her until she could barely remember her name. Apparently 'practice makes perfect' was his motto because he spent as much time as he could kissing her. By now, she was forced to admit that, most of the time, his kisses had her toes curling and back arching, leaving her a blubbering mess. She couldn't wait to see what else she could teach him.

She smiled, opening her eyes and turning to look at what he was drawing. There, on the white page of his drawing-block, line after line the tree under which they usually sat was appearing. She studied the drawing. The richness of details was exquisite, she almost had the impression of looking at a black and white photo. He had finished drawing the trunk of the tree, now moving to the branches and the leaves. With light strokes, he started giving a form to the foliage. She lowered her eyes to look at his expression. His eyes were dead-set on his creation, moving only to take a look at the tree before going back to the block. It was the same kind of concentration as when he had played the piano for her. It made him look beautiful, not that he normally wasn't, but there was something about his dedication to his art that was simply irresistible. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice he had stopped drawing, deciding to stare at her instead.

"You're staring at me," he deadpanned.

"No," she replied. "I'm staring at your drawing," she corrected.

His eyes went back to his creation. "Do you like it?" He asked her, lightly bending his head to the side to study what he'd done so far.

"It's beautiful," she answered him honestly. "Will you color it in?"

She had noticed that he usually used only pencils when he had to draw, but he never colored anything in. As much as she liked black and white drawings, she wondered why he never used colors. Was it his decision or had he simply never thought about it?

"I don't know," he said going back to his drawing. "Every time I try to color one of my drawings I'm never satisfied with the result. Klaus is the one good with colors, not me." He chewed the inside of his cheek, closing his drawing-block and setting it aside. "Maybe you should color them for me," he said suddenly.

"Are you serious?" Elena didn't know what possessed him to say such a thing. Her? Coloring one of his drawings? _Yeah, that wasn't going to happen._

"Yeah," Damon said, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe we'll find out that you're better at coloring as opposed to drawing."

Elena didn't miss the twinkle in his eyes accompanying his words, "What's that supposed to mean?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

Damon raised his arms in defense, "I'm just saying, I saw how you draw and it really isn't one of your greatest...qualities." He chuckled at her outraged expression.

He hadn't been the only one to witness her drawing skills. A couple of evenings ago, Enzo had proposed to Damon and Elena to play Pictionary to pass the time. Guessing what Damon was drawing had been way too easy thanks to his talent. Things got a little bit harder when Enzo had been the one to draw. When Elena'was up, however, things had simply escalated. Both Damon and Enzo had glanced at each other, speechless. They had started to randomly guess, hoping to stumble upon the solution. Elena, more and more frustrated, had added more details to her picture trying to help them. When the two men had given up, she had angrily told them that she had drawn the Puss in Boots. Enzo had spat his bourbon everywhere, his guffaw echoing in the room. When he had finally regained the ability to speak, he'd said that the _thing_ she'd drawn looked like a rabid raccoon with two worms gnawing at its feet and a bat plastered to its head. Damon had delicately chosen to remain silent while Elena screamed like a banshee at Enzo.

"So that's how you want to play it..." Elena said in a low threatening voice.

Damon made to sit up so he could properly look at her. As soon as he'd started to straighten up, however, Elena pounced on him sending him sprawling to the ground. For a moment, he thought that she was really angry with him for his light teasing. He opened his mouth to apologize to her but the words got stuck in his throat. Elena's hands sneaked under his shirt and her fingers started to wiggle across his stomach. Damon held his breath, trying to stave off the inevitable. He managed to resist for about two seconds before he started writhing on the ground, laughter tumbling out of his mouth.

"Oh my God!" He exclaimed in a girly voice. "Please, stop! I'm going to die!"

Elena showed him no mercy, "I won't stop until you take what you said back." She hissed continuing to tickle him.

Damon tried to grab her wrist even though he knew that it wouldn't solve anything. She was way stronger than him, his strength would never be enough to stop her wiggling fingers. The two rolled on the grass, Elena never ceasing her attack and Damon trying to breathe through the hysterical laughter that just wouldn't stop. He knew he should have never told her where he was ticklish. What he'd thought to be an innocent confession had become a weapon of destruction in her hands.

Starting to feel light headed, Damon caved in, "I give up! I give up!" He begged her to stop.

Elena's hands immediately stilled while she bent down to look him in the eyes, "What did you say?" She playfully asked him.

Damon took a deep breath, willing his racing heart to settle, "You're amazing and everything you do is a work of art," he answered breathlessly, his eyes locking on hers.

Elena patted his heaving chest, "And don't you forget it."

When they finally calmed down, they realized what position they were in. Elena was straddling his hips, bent over him with their noses almost touching. The fact that Damon kept painting against her lips was not helping Elena. While they had made out more than once, Elena wanted to push his boundaries to see when he'd want to stop, they had never had sex. As much as Elena wanted to take things slow for Damon, she couldn't lie and say that she had never thought about it. She had managed to not think about sex while she didn't have a boyfriend that could help in that department. Now that she had Damon, even though the word 'boyfriend' sounded incredibly silly when she thought about it, her natural needs started to present themselves every time they were in close proximity.

Damon's pupil were dilated, signaling that he too was not indifferent to the desire that was starting to brew between them. He cupped her cheek with his hand, pulling her down to eliminate those mere inches separating them. Their lips smashed together, moving hungrily. Every time they started kissing, it felt like the rest of the world just faded away, only they were real. When Elena touched Damon's lips asking for entrance, he immediately granted it to her, moaning when she deepened the kiss. There was nothing these days that Damon liked more than Elena's kisses.

When Damon rolled them over, settling between her legs, Elena realized that things were going way too far considering they weren't exactly hidden from prying eyes. Klaus wanted her to be with Damon wherever he went, but she doubted the Original would appreciate the growing level of intimacy between them. Since she was so distracted by her thoughts, Damon decided to take charge. He grabbed one of Elena legs and hiked it up around his waist, rolling his hips against hers. Elena moaned loudly, separating their lips and tilting her head back. She could feel him smile against her neck and, while she appreciated that he seemed to want to take things to another level, they really needed to stop.

"Damon," she tried to capture his attention, her fingers entwining in his dark locks. "Damon, we need to stop."

Either he didn't hear her or he completely ignored her, preferring to focus on her neck, kissing and nipping at it. He'd recently found out how a little nip along her neck could make her shiver in pleasure, and he'd decided to fully exploit that spot whenever he could.

Elena grabbed a handful of his hair and, gently but firmly, made him raise his head so she could speak, "We need to stop, now," She repeated to him.

A panting Damon looked at her with eyes brimming with lust, "What if I don't want to stop?" He asked her.

For a moment, Elena considered taking him up on his offer. She wanted him so bad and here he was, offering her exactly what she wanted. However, she reminded herself that, while he'd never openly said so himself, this would more than likely be his first time. She didn't want it to happen like this, with them hiding and having to do everything quickly to avoid getting caught. She wanted to do things right.

She cupped his cheeks, looking him deep in the eyes, "Not like this, Damon. Not here."

She could see in his eyes that stopping was the last thing he wanted, however, with a disgruntled groan, he buried his face against her neck taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Elena held him there, stroking his hair while she waited for him to relax. She could understand his frustration but, since she was the more experienced one, she needed to take control of the situation. While Damon wanted this now, she remembered the impatience she felt as a teen mixed with the awkwardness of approaching an unfamiliar territory, they needed to take things slow.

The big problem was that Damon was no teenager. The fact that the Originals had kept him locked up, away from the rest of the world, and that even those who lived in the Mansion avoided him wasn't helping their situation. What Damon should have experienced more than a decade ago when he hit puberty, had been delayed by the lack of human contact in his life. He hadn't had a girlfriend with which to make his first experiences. As a result, he found himself now with the body of a man and the impatience of a teenager when it came to sex. He wanted to get down to it, but had no real knowledge on how to properly proceed. She would have to lead him, trying at the same time to not make him feel embarrassed.

After a couple of minutes, Damon raised his head to look at her, "Everything good?" She asked him, waiting for his confirmation.

Damon nodded and they stood up. Once they had finished dusting off their clothes, Damon adjusted his pants throwing her a sheepish smile. Elena pecked him on the lips, encircling his waist with her arms and holding him tight.

"Do you want to go up to your bedroom and watch a movie?" She asked him with a smile.

"I'd like that. Do you want to choose?" He slipped out of her embrace and took her hand, walking toward the Mansion.

When they reached it, he let her hand go and she slowed down letting him lead her toward his bedroom. As his personal guard, Elena had taken to walk half a step behind him when they were inside. Damon had found it unnerving in the beginning but had grown used to it, understanding why she had to behave like this. They quickly climbed to the second floor and began going up the winding staircase that lead to Damon's room.

"Are you sure you want to be subjected to another chick-flick movie?" She asked him with a chuckle. Damon had quickly found out Elena's penchant for romantic comedies. Sometimes he enjoyed them, other times he was left baffled.

One side of Damon's mouth quirked up while he opened the door to his room. She had no idea that he would have suffered through all the chick-flick movies in the world, if only to spend time with her. He froze on the threshold when he saw that someone was already on his room. Elena, not expecting his abrupt stop, walked into him smashing against his back with a soft _oouf_. When she peeked over his shoulder, she saw the reason for his stop.

"Uncle Elijah," said Damon, surprised to see his uncle in his room. "What brings you here?"

Elijah turned toward them from where he had been looking outside the window facing the garden. He was as calm as ever, though Elena had the feeling that he wasn't just there to ask Damon about his day. He looked at Damon before moving his gaze to Elena, staring at her intently. She felt like he was trying to gaze into her soul, searching for some kind of truth in her. She shivered, uncomfortable and moved closer to Damon.

"I wish to speak to you, Damon," said Elijah in his ever calm voice. "Alone," he added, throwing a significant look at Elena.

Elena didn't know what possessed her but, before Damon could say anything, she spoke, "I am Damon's guard. I follow _his_ orders now, not yours."

Damon gasped at her boldness, turning toward her with wide eyes and his mouth gaping open. Elena realized immediately how disrespectful her words had been, but she didn't regret them. She probably would later, but for now she felt entitled to say them. She couldn't stand the amount of indifference the Originals showed her, not after her wonderful morning with Damon.

Elijah tilted his head to the side, studying her, "Is that so?" He whispered.

Before things could escalate, Damon intervened. He turned toward Elena and grabbed her arm, gently steering her toward the door. At her look of confusion he explained, "It's okay, Elena. There's nothing to worry about, I'm sure Uncle Elijah only wants to talk."

Elena, not entirely sure that she was doing the right thing, nodded at him and left the room. Before closing the door behind her, though, she grasped Damon's hand tightly in her own looking him in the eye, "I'll see you later."

After her words, she left, the door softly closing behind her. Damon turned toward his Uncle, waiting to hear what he had to say. He too had felt the light tension in the air and he had the feeling that he was not going to like what the Original wanted to discuss. Elijah motioned for him to sit down to his left, where two comfortable-looking armchairs stood facing each other separated by a low table stacked with drawings. Damon sat down and looked at his Uncle as Elijah unbuttoned his jacket, taking place in front of him. The Original clasped his hands in front of him before heaving a weak sigh.

"I see no reason to circle around the matter I want to discuss with you," started Elijah in a calm tone. "I will be clear, Damon. I know about your...dalliances with Miss Gilbert."

Damon remained calm, even though he could feel a certain amount of anxiousness inside making itself known. He'd always thought that the real problem was going to be Klaus, but he'd never asked himself what Elijah's opinion was going to be about his relationship with Elena. His Uncle had always been calm and comprehensive with him, always listening and providing good advices. Damon had figured out that he would be the most accepting about the whole thing. By the way he was approaching the subject, though, Damon started to question his judgment.

Elijah had not said another word, waiting for him to either deny his involvement or not, so Damon scrambled for something to say, "I have no idea what you mean," he answered instinctively.

Elijah smiled lightly at him, clearly seeing that he was lying, "There's no need for you to lie to me, Damon. I saw the two of you kissing in the garden so I'm perfectly sure that what I'm saying is the truth. Things would proceed much smoother if you agreed to tell me the truth."

"Okay," whispered Damon, lowering his gaze.

"So..." Elijah drifted off, gesturing with his hands for Damon to tell him the truth.

Damon looked him in the eye and, with a soft sigh, said, "Yes, we're together."

"For how long?" wanted to know the vampire.

"A week and a half, give or take," Damon shrugged his shoulders. Why was Elijah asking him all these questions?

The Original vampire leaned against the back of the armchair, bringing his clasped hands to his lips. His eyes continued to study the young man in front of him. The situation was not one of the best but Elijah had expected something like this to happen. He'd seen Damon and Elena spending time together for the past month and a half. If he'd never said anything about it, it was because he'd always kept an eye on them. Sometimes, Enzo remained in their vicinity just to make sure nothing happened between the two of them. From the conversation he'd eavesdropped, Enzo said that the two simply liked each other. While his loyal vampire thought that what was happening was harmless, Elijah wasn't so sure about that. He always had the feeling that he was missing something when it came to Elena Gilbert.

"What are your intentions, Damon?" he suddenly asked to the young man.

Startled, Damon tilted is head to the side, "What do you mean?" He inquired, not sure of what his Uncle was asking him.

"I mean, what do you want out of this...relationship," when Damon's confusion only increased, Elijah continued. "If you are spending time with Miss Gilbert out of a desire to gain some experience with the other sex, then I see no problem. You're a man, Damon, it's only natural for you to have certain needs. I also understand how living in this Mansion could have made things difficult for you when it comes to women."

Damon couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was his Uncle insinuating that he was with Elena just to...to...have sex with her? Where there even men who behaved in such a manner? He didn't think that anyone would ever do something like what his Uncle was saying. To use Elena as a means to an end, seemed such a despicable thing that he had trouble even thinking about it. How could Elijah even think that he would ever do something like that? His Uncle clearly had not finished his speech, however, because after a brief pause, he went on.

"However, if what you're pursuing is a," he searched for the right word. "long term relationship, then I feel the need to dissuade you from continuing with this course of action. A relationship between the two of you would be next to impossible, Damon. You need to cut this short before you hurt yourself."

Damon couldn't stand to hear Elijah's words any more. He jumped up and moved to the center of the room, where he proceeded to pace back and forth. He'd never before felt so angry with his Uncle. The things he was saying were hurtful. What did he want to accomplish by telling him how he couldn't be with Elena? Did Elijah think that he would simply agree with him and go back to the way things were before? That was impossible. There was no going back anymore, things were far to different now to simply ignore everything that he'd learned since Elena came into his life.

Keeping a hold on his anger, Damon turned to Elijah and told him exactly what he thought about this situation, "First of all, if you think that I would use Elena as an...object just to satisfy myself, then you don't know me. And second of all, what Elena and I do is our business and you have no right to interfere."

Elijah stood up and made to interrupt him, no doubt saying something along the lines of 'I know better ' or something like that. Before he could even open his mouth, however, Damon stopped him, continuing his speech, "Don't even think about interrupting me, Elijah," the Original looked at him wide eyes, startled by the omission of the affective 'Uncle'. "You're always telling me how one day I'll meet someone who will love me and make me happy. But how am I supposed to meet someone, if I'm stuck here every day of my life?"

Elijah remained silent.

"Elena understands me, Uncle," said Damon in a soft voice, a small affectionate smile appearing on his lips. "She's kind and amazing. She always complements me on my music or on my drawings. She likes to spend time with me and she listens to everything I have to say. She doesn't look at me like I'm a freak, like the rest of this Mansion does. She only sees a man, nothing more, and for her I'm enough."

"Damon..." tried to talk Elijah.

"I won't stop seeing her," Damon said firmly, interrupting the Original. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm not using her nor is she using me. She won't hurt me and I would never do anything to hurt her, because I..." he stopped before he could complete the sentence, unsure of what he wanted to say.

"Because you love her," Elijah had no doubts about what the young man wanted to say. That look in Damon's eyes, was the same he had when he looked at Hayley. Damon, however, was not considering all the obstacles in his path, "What about all the lies between the two of you? A relationship needs trust to work and trust comes from the truth. How could the two of you be together when you can't even be truthful to one another?"

Damon hated that what Elijah was saying was actually right. He himself had thought about that and he had found no magical solution to the problem. Logically, he knew that the only thing to do was tell Elena everything. But could he risk losing her? What if she started treating him like everyone else? He wouldn't be able to bear it, not from her. He raised tear-filled eyes to Elijah, begging him to tell him what to do.

Knowing that he couldn't say or do anything else, Elijah turned and left Damon to think about his words. He knew that Damon would probably hate him for his words, but he had to say them. Whether Damon believed it or not, Elijah was only trying to protect him. He knew all too well the pain of love and, as much as it was possible for him, he wanted to spare Damon the pain of having his heart broken. His instinct told him that this Elena Gilbert would cause him pain, intentionally or not he didn't know, but he cared so much about Damon that he wanted to shield him from it.

Damon let himself fall into bed. He stayed there, staring at the ceiling. Elijah's words haunted him. He was right on all accounts, Damon knew that. Elena herself had told him how trust was the foundation of every relationship. He knew what he had to do, he was just afraid of doing it. There were so many things that could go bad, so many things that he could lose.

_There's no going back, Damon_.

He clenched his hands into fists. Even if Elena wasn't telling him the whole truth, it didn't matter. If one of them didn't take the first step, nothing would change. As much as he was afraid of revealing her everything, he knew he had to if he wanted this thing between them to work. God, did he want it to work. Later in the evening he would take her to the garden and he would show her what he was and, whether things went well or not, at least he would know that he'd been honest, that he'd tried with everything he had.

Having settled things, he stood up and went to search for Elena to spend with her what could have possibly been their last afternoon together. In the evening they sat together at the table in the living room, a blood bag for her and a risotto of shallots for him. The tension was thick at the table, even the Originals picked it up. Elijah simply sipped his blood from the cup he held, Enzo threw sympathetic glances toward Damon, Rebekah chattered away to fill the silence and Klaus observed everyone trying to understand what was happening. Elena glanced worriedly at Damon throughout the dinner, risking a couple of squeezes at his knee as a sign of reassurance.

"Would you like to play us something later, Damon?" asked Rebekah, trying to involve someone else in her attempt at conversation.

Damon turned toward her after a quick look at Elijah, "Actually I wanted to sit in the garden to stay alone for a while, if it's okay with you," he looked at Klaus and Elijah.

"Not utterly alone, I hope," Klaus said lightly, subtly telling him that he didn't want him alone.

"Of course not, Elena will come with me," he nodded in her direction.

"Then I see no problem," concluded Klaus. "Do you, brother?"

"Absolutely not," answered Elijah.

When after dinner Damon and Elena left the others to go into the garden, it was with a heavy heart that Damon led her to their bench. He stood by his decision and had no intention of backing down, however, he felt like he had a rock lodged in his chest. Elena trailed silently behind him, waiting for him to tell her what was going on. All afternoon he'd been acting strange and, when she'd asked him what Elijah wanted in the morning, he simply shrugged it off saying that it was nothing important. If he thought he could fool her like that, he had another thing coming.

They had finally reached their spot when Elena decided to talk, "Damon, what's going on?"

He turned toward her, an air of desperation around him. He took her hands and gripped them tightly, afraid of letting go, "I have to show you something."

Elena tilted her head to the side, "Okay, what is it?"

"It's about me, about what I am," started Damon, trying to gather some strength to do what he had to. "Because you are right and Elijah is right and this thing can't work if we go on like this. And I want it to work, Elena. God, I want it. So one of us has to start telling the truth otherwise all this doesn't make sense," his words were rushed as if he was forcing himself to say them.

"Damon, calm down. I don't understand what you're saying," the fear she could see in his eyes scared her just as much as his confused speech.

Damon took a deep breath letting her hands go and taking a step back, "You said that the truth is the most important thing in a relationship, and I agree with you. That's why I'm doing this, I just hope you won't hate me. Promise me that you won't hate me," he begged her.

"Damon, what's happening? You're scaring me," she said anxiously.

"Promise me!" he insisted.

"I promise!" she exclaimed.

Damon sent her a trembling smile before raising his right arm. He stretched it in front of him and opened his hand, palm up. Before Elena could ask him what he was doing, something impossible happened in front of her eyes. From the palm of his hand erupted fire. The flame trembled becoming bigger and bigger before assuming a spherical form. The ball of fire stood an inch above Damon's hand, the stray sparks coming from it fell on his skin without burning it.

"This is what I am, Elena," said Damon looking at her with a sad smile. "This is what I've been trying to hide from you."

Elena silently stared at the ball of fire, her mind blank. It wasn't so much the magic that paralyzed her, but what she knew that magic meant. Now that she had the truth in front of her eyes, she knew why Damon was so important to the Originals. To Klaus. A part of her had always known it but had chosen to ignore all the signs. As if he could read her mind, Damon voiced her greatest fear.

"I am the reason for Klaus's power."

She had the feeling that the earth beneath her feet wanted to swallow her whole. Images of the werewolves stuck in agony half-way through their transformations, of the friends she'd lost in this war with Klaus, all the suffering, everything came to her in that moment. She'd always blamed Klaus for all those things. Now she couldn't, not completely. Because, even if Klaus had been the one behind all those decisions, it had been Damon's power that had made everything possible.

Without even realizing it, she started to back away from him, shaking her head from left to right as if to deny the reality in front of her. She couldn't deal with this. Not now. Not after their wonderful morning. Damon extinguished the ball of fire and took a step toward her.

"Elena," he pleaded.

She heard the pain in his voice, but she couldn't do anything about it. She turned and started to run toward the Mansion, Damon's anguished voice haunting her steps.

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><p><strong>How did you like it? I know I'm evil for that cliffhanger, but it was a necessary evil ; ) Let me know what you think clicking on that button down there!<strong>


	12. Weathering Down The Storm

****AN: Here's chapter 12 all for you! I can't believe that I've reached the chapter length of my previous story, Game On, having written almost twice as many words! Thank you so much for the continue support you give me with your words, the favorites and the follows. I also need to thank you for all the luck you've sent me: it worked! I passed the written part of my Russian exam, with a low grade yes, but I've passed it and, believe me, if you knew how difficult Russian is for me, you'de be doing the Charameldanssen (hope I spelled it right) with me. On the 21 I'll have the oral part of that exam, let's see if I can fix my grade!****

****Enjoy this chapter knowing that if I'm not drowing in depression because of a failed exam, it's in part thanks to you! (I also studied like hell, mind you!)****

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><p>Chapter 12 – Weathering Down The Storm<p>

_There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love. _

_- Washington Irving -_

Elena didn't know what to do. For the past three days since she had ran away from Damon, leaving him alone though she was supposed to be his personal guard, her brain kept going back to the moment where everything had come tumbling down. There were moments where she could almost hear the crackling sound of the fire on Damon's hand. She could see it in front of her, her vampire senses replicating everything in high definition. She would raise her eyes to look at Damon and, as much as she screamed at him to not say anything, his mouth would open and those wretched words would come out of it, piercing her heart.

"_I am the reason for Klaus's power."_

Every time she replayed those words in her head, a new wave of pain would slam into her. After she had run away from Damon, she had barricaded herself inside of her room. She had leaned her back against the door, panting heavily, and slid down curling up on the floor much like she'd done that day almost two months ago when Klaus had given her a job. At first her brain had refused to collaborate with her, leaving her staring at the wall on the other side of the room. After twenty minutes, she had heard footsteps coming closer to her room, followed by a fluttering heartbeat, Damon.

He had given her some time to get a hold of herself, before following her. Either that, or he had needed some time to pick himself up after she had abandoned him. Now, she heard him stop in front of her door, no doubt debating whether to knock or not. She could hear him moving his weight from one foot to the other, his hand raising to knock on the wood before lowering down. A soft _thud_ against her door was the only thing she heard. She could imagine him standing there, his forehead pressed against the cold wood, his eyes shut tightly. She felt her heart clench, but she did nothing to stop it. She couldn't. Not when she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

After a tense moment, she had heard him sigh softly before his footsteps carried him away. She'd heard him walk up the stairs, close his door and fall into bed. Only then, did everything that had happened catch up to her. He was the one who killed the vampires who did not bow down to Klaus nineteen years ago. Somehow, he had erased the magic from their daylight rings, leaving them to burn in the sun. The same could be said for those poor werewolves whose transformation had gotten out of control. She looked at her right hand, the tattoo taking on a whole new meaning. It wasn't Klaus the one who could kill her, it was Damon. That thought had made her feel sick to her stomach. The fact that sweet, innocent Damon was a killer was something impossible to comprehend.

Elena had felt a headache coming up. She had quickly changed and gotten under the covers, knowing full well that she wasn't going to be able to sleep that night. True to that, she had spent the whole night thinking about possible courses of action. Now that she knew what, or better yet _who_, Klaus's weapon was, she could complete her mission if she wanted. The mere thought of killing Damon, however, was simply preposterous. She immediately dismissed the idea. Apart from the fact that she cared for him too much, she ignored the voice in her head whispering _love_ to her, she had no idea if killing him would fix everything, giving magic back to the witches.

The logical thing to do, would have been to leave the Mansion. She could go to Alaric, tell him everything and let him deal with this mess. But she wasn't a coward. She didn't run from her problems, she faced them head on. That, and the thought of leaving Damon sounded physically impossible to act upon. Whether she liked that or not, the two of them were bound to each other now. She couldn't simply disregard everything they had shared and just leave, pretending nothing had ever happened. That was simply unfeasible.

When morning had come, and she'd had to get ready for when Damon came down to eat breakfast, she had been as lost as she had been the previous night. Now that she'd had time to think about her reaction, she realized that what she'd done had been wrong. Damon had trusted her with his greatest secret and she had abandoned him. When she had left her room and had waited at the bottom of the winding stairs for Damon to come down, she had decided to at least apologize for her reaction. She couldn't tell him that everything was okay between them, but she could at least ease a bit the stinging pain of rejection she had inflicted upon him.

When she'd heard him come down, she had turned toward the stairs. As soon as she'd seen him, however, her carefully worded apology had vanished into thin air. Because instead of seeing him, she'd seen the writhing bodies of vampires burning in the sun. She'd heard the anguished howls of confused and panicked werewolves. She'd witnessed the empty eyes of the witches who had lost everything that made them who they were. Elena had closed her mouth and fixated her eyes on Damon, waiting for him to lead the way. She hadn't missed the way Damon's eyes had looked hopeful when he'd seen her at the bottom of the stairs, nor the pain that had filled them when she had not said anything.

That had been their life for three days. Sometimes she would open her mouth to talk to him, to explain why she'd had that reaction. She wanted him to know that she wasn't like everyone else, she wasn't scared of him, nor did she hate him. Far from it, actually. She just had a hard time processing everything. The fact that she couldn't simply tell him that she was a member of Jäger, that her mission had been finding Klaus's weapon and destroy it so they could overthrow his self-appointed reign, didn't make things any easier. Everything would become even more chaotic if she were to do something like that.

Every time she thought she'd found a way to explain herself to him, horrible images of what Damon had been an accomplice in, kept flashing before her eyes. That was something else she couldn't cope with. How was she supposed to reconcile those two sides of Damon, the sweet man that loved to spend time near her, no matter what they were doing, and the one that apparently could kill someone with just a thought. It was disconcerting how Damon always appeared so innocent. The thought that he could kill someone had never even entered her mind. His eyes were so clear, his smile so untarnished and his soul so bright. Did he not feel remorse? Was he aware of what he'd done, what he was still doing? Had Klaus compelled him? Could Damon even _be_ compelled? All this questions continued to swirl through her mind.

For his part, Damon had gone back to those first times she'd seen him. He barely talked to her, only asking her if it would be okay with her staying inside, or if she could pass him the water when they were seated at the table in the living room. When he caught her staring at him, he would look tentatively hopeful for a moment, immediately closing himself off when he realized that she wasn't going to talk to him. It hurt Elena to see him so guarded in her presence, but what could she do? She couldn't simply ignore what he'd shown her, things didn't work like that.

It was now late afternoon on the third day since Damon's revelation. Since Damon had decided to spend his time holed up in his room to, as he said, catch up on some of his works, Elena had decided to read a book, hoping to distract herself. It was safe to say that her plan was not working. At all. Every time she turned a page, she would see the black tattoo on her hand that would remind her of everything she was trying to ignore. If she had felt repulsed by the Hybrid symbol before, now she was simply beyond disgusted by it. She had quickly realized that Damon was the one who controlled it and, in one of her weakest moments, she had briefly wondered if he had ever thought about killing her for the pain she was causing him.

She sighed, concentrating on the words on the white pages of the book in her lap. She couldn't allow her mind to linger too much on certain thoughts, otherwise she would drove herself crazy with all her speculations. Because that was exactly what she had, speculations. There was nothing certain about this story. The only thing she knew, was that Damon could somehow use magic. That was it. She didn't know how he could use it, why he would use it to do Klaus's dirty work nor what motivated him in doing so. She supposed that was the problem, in the end. If she continued to refuse to talk to him, she was never going to get through this. And she wanted to get through this.

She missed Damon like she had never missed anyone else before. Maybe only the death of her parents had hit her with such force. In the almost two months they had spent together, she'd had the chance to get used to him. She'd taken for granted his soothing presence, his caring smile and those gentle blue eyes that could see through her, right to the depth of her soul. The level of companionship they had reached couldn't simply be interrupted like that. They had both experienced what it meant to share yourself with someone else, as completely as they had been allowed to, and, now that the distance between them was as great as it had ever been, they suffered. She knew exactly why she missed him so much, she just couldn't admit it to herself. Especially not in that moment, when it looked like everything was falling down.

She huffed, upset. She could grudgingly admit to herself that she was behaving like an immature child. She was fifty-five for God's sake, she was old enough to understand that the silent treatment was not going to solve her problems, only talking could do that. A thought occurred to her at the word 'child'. Although she wasn't sure about when exactly Damon had come to live with the Mikaelsons, he must have been very little. Klaus's display of power had taken place nineteen years ago and, if she was right about Damon's age, the raven haired man must have been only a child of six maybe seven years. The image of a little kid with big blue eyes concentrating on killing someone through his magic, came to her mind before she could stop it.

That image was so cruel and sickening that she started to feel her stomach rebelling against her. Elena covered her mouth and flashed to the nearest bathroom. As she knelt in front of the toilet and threw up, she couldn't help but think about what Damon's childhood must have been like. Maybe he didn't object to the way his powers were used, because that was the way in which he had been brought up. Somehow, thinking that for him using his powers to kill off people was a normal occurrence, made everything worse.

When her stomach finally settled, Elena rose from her knees and went to drink some water from the faucet nearby. After she had erased the taste of dead rat in her mouth, she exited the bathroom only to slam into someone. When she raised her eyes, she realized that she had slammed into Enzo. He was looking at her intently, his eyes filled with a mix of anger and sympathy all directed at her. Seeing the always-smirking Enzo with such a peculiar expression on his face, was unsettling.

"Enzo," breathed Elena, wanting to move from her awkward position of being between the bathroom door and his chest, but not sure on how to accomplish that. "What are you doing here?"

"As a matter of fact, I was looking for you," he answered her.

Elena didn't even get the chance to give him a reply. Enzo gripped her forearm and dragged her toward the library, where she had been reading her book. Elena, startled by his unusual behavior, let herself be dragged. When they reached the library, Enzo closed the double doors behind them and made Elena sit down on one of the plush armchairs in the room. Elena did as he wanted and looked up at him. Enzo crossed his arms, looking at her straight in the eyes.

"How long will this thing with you and Damon go on?" he asked her out of the blue.

Elena remained speechless, thinking that she'd heard him wrong. When he just waited for her to answer, she tried to find a way to answer his question.

"What thing with Damon?" Was he aware of their relationship? How?

The older vampire rolled his eyes, "You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. I know that the two of you are together. I told Elijah as much, he went to talk to Damon, then Damon took you to the gardens to tell you something and here we are now. I just had to put two and two together."

Elena was reluctantly impressed by his deduction skills. She was also more than a little angry with him. At the risk of sounding like a child, she couldn't help but think that he'd been such a tattle-tale. And no one likes a tattle-tale. She now had a choice in front of her: she could either blatantly lie to him and hope he would just buy it or, she could vent to him about her current situation with Damon, obviously omitting some details about it. While she was lost in her musing, Enzo was not so patiently waiting for her to say something.

Elena chanced a look at him. She couldn't say that she knew enough about him to predict what his reaction to her words would be. From her time in the Mansion, the only things she had learned about him were that he disliked authority, when it didn't come from Elijah, felt a certain amount of concern toward others, as much as his days of torture could have left him with, and above all he was loyal. If she was going to talk to him about what happened, she would have to hope that that loyalty extended to Damon as well as Elijah, making Enzo concerned for the young man. Elena's instinct had never betrayed her up until then plus, she needed someone to talk to. In the absence of Caroline, Enzo would have to do.

"Damon showed me something, that night. Something that...I'm not even sure how to judge. It's like, everything I knew about him is clashing with what I now know he is. And I don't know how to deal with that change," those words were the only thing that had come to her mind to describe what she was feeling.

After a brief pause, in which he looked at her weighing his options, Enzo spoke, "He showed you that he can use magic."

Elena's flinch at his words was the only confirmation he needed. While he cringed internally at Damon's rash reaction to Elijah's words, a part of Enzo couldn't help but feel proud of him. He had decided to stand up to his Uncle for the woman he loved and, if there was something Enzo could respect, it was definitely that. Nonetheless, Damon could have chosen a less abrupt way to inform their Miss Gilbert of his peculiar talent. Damon's ingenuity was a fun thing to witness most of the time, one of the reasons for which Enzo liked to tease him with his innuendos. This time, however, he really wished the young man would have sought council from someone older than him.

Enzo knelt in front of Elena, sitting on his heels. While Gilbert always looked calm and sure of herself and of her abilities, right then she just looked like a lost girl in need of a helping hand. Enzo wanted to roll his eyes at the irony of the situation. Never had he imagined himself as a love adviser. Boy, how things changed. Life was really unpredictable. With a soft sigh, Enzo lifted Elena's chin to make her look at him. Her lost expression made him cringe. As much as he was willing to lend a helping hand, he did not want to find himself comforting a crying woman. _That's all on you, Damon-boy._

"You'll have to excuse Damon, his people skills are not the best. He lacks my natural charming way of dealing with people," he considered the little smile coming from Elena as a win. "He did the only thing he could think of, Elena. Elijah's words made him feel cornered and he reacted. I agree that his way of dealing with things has not been the best, all things considered. What I think you're not taking into account, however, is the magnitude of his gesture."

Elena tilted her head to the side, considering his words, "I know that he exposed himself to me, Enzo but..."

"It's not about that, Elena," interrupted her Enzo. "I mean it is, partially. What you don't get is that, for the first time in his life, Damon has openly defied Elijah. For the first time he's done something because _he_ was the one who wanted to do it. No one told him to tell you his secret, but he did it. He weighed his two options: listening to Elijah and eventually lose you to all the secrets between you or, take a chance and see how things went. He did it all for you."

He let his words sink in, knowing that Elena wouldn't disregard them. She was intelligent and considerate of others, he knew she would understand. As much as Enzo's loyalty for Elijah ran deep, he'd never liked the way the Originals dealt with Damon. After decades of captivity he, more than anyone else, knew what it was like to see a prison around you and feel like everything you did was controlled by others. Seeing the boy stand up for himself, made Enzo want to go to him, clap him on his back and whisper a proud _atta-boy_. Cheesy? Maybe. But he wanted to do it all the same.

He brought his eyes back to Elena, finishing what he had to say, "I understand that there are other problems involved, considering your particular...affiliations," he threw her a significant look. "But you can't go on like this."

"You know?" whispered Elena, a frightened look on her face.

Enzo raised a hand to calm her down, "Before you say anything compromising, I know nothing for certain. I have my suspicions but I haven't told anyone about them. Like I said, I have the feeling that maybe one day you'll help me when I need it."

Elena was more and more confused by this man. She couldn't figure him out but, something inside of her told her that she could trust him.

"Pick yourself up, soldier," Enzo told her standing up. "You have things to do and no time to feel sorry for yourself."

With those last words, he left her alone in the library. Elena immediately stood up, wanting to act before she lost her determination. She had to talk to Damon and solve this thing. First, however, she had something else to do. She went to her room, locking herself in, and went to the window that faced the garden, the reason why she had chosen Kol's room for her own to stay in. She stretched her mind toward the woods, searching for the little family of crows that Damon had shown her in one of their afternoon walks. When she felt their conscience brush against her own, she chose the oldest one of them and coaxed him into coming to her. In a matter of seconds, she saw a dark silhouette fly toward her. She waited for the crow to land on her windowsill before connecting with its mind. Once she was sure that the crow understood what he had to do, she looked him deep in its black eye.

"Go to Alaric," she ordered, and the crow flew away.

That task accomplished, Elena prepared for the next one. She rubbed her hands together, took a deep breath and exited her room. She quickly went up the winding stairs, stopping in front of Damon's door. Before she could take the coward way out, she knocked. Waiting for him to open the door was probably the most horrible thing she'd ever had to do in her life. When Damon opened the door, he looked at her with wide eyes before schooling his features. Elena grimaced internally at the sight of his guarded eyes, but understood his need for it.

"Hey," she softly said. "Can we talk?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore." The accusation in his tone hit her square in the heart. She deserved it all.

"I know," she whispered looking at him. "But now I'm ready to talk if you'll allow me."

For a second, she was sure he would slam the door in her face. That didn't happen, however. Damon stepped aside, letting her in. When she heard the soft _click_ of the door behind her, Elena turned to look at Damon. With her hand she gestured toward the armchairs on her right. Damon silently moved toward them, belatedly thinking that, apparently, all the important conversations in his life would happen while seated on those chairs. When they were both sitting down facing one another, Elena looked at him with sheepish eyes.

"Can you do something about other ears?" she waved her hand in the air.

Damon tensed at her request. He felt reluctant at the idea of using his magic. After all, magic was what got him into this mess.

"Please," said Elena, understanding the reason for his hesitancy. "I don't want others to hear this."

Damon swallowed heavily but did as she asked. He lifted his hand and, with minimal concentration, sealed the room so that no one outside of it could hear them. Elena whispered a _thank you _in his direction before fidgeting in her chair, searching for a comfortable position. Damon waited anxiously for her to say something. It seemed that it was the only thing he could do, wait for her to talk, to choose, to understand. He felt completely in the hands of the minute woman in front of him. Normally it didn't bother him too much but now, he felt slightly peeved.

"There are several things that we need to discuss," started Elena. "But first I have to say something: I am sorry."

Damon looked up at her, befuddled. "You're sorry?" he repeated.

Elena nodded decisively at him, regaining confidence, "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. That was awful of me and I want you to know that, even though you have every right to doubt my words, I value the way you exposed yourself to me. I shouldn't have made you feel like I was rejecting who you are, that's not the kind of person I am. What you showed me was something special, something that is part of who you are and it was beautiful."

Damon absorbed her words and felt them soothe the stinging pain he'd felt since the moment she'd ran away from him. There was one thing, though, that he needed to know.

"Then why did you run away?" He asked with a trembling voice.

"There are many things you don't know about me, Damon," she sent him a sad smile. "I want to tell you about all those things, I really do. But now is not the time."

Damon huffed and lowered his eyes to the ground, feeling disappointed by her words. He felt anger raising inside of him. Anger directed at her, at the situation they were in. He wanted to know the truth, she owed him at least that. He had taken the first step and now that it was her turn, she refused to let him in. Elena saw his hostile demeanor and she understood it. However, she knew she was right in hiding the truth a bit longer. If she told him now, he would undoubtedly go to Klaus, not to expose her and have her killed, but because he genuinely believed that there was something good in the Original Hybrid. Damon would probably think that, if he talked to Klaus, then he would leave her alone but she knew better. No matter Damon's prayers, Klaus wouldn't let her walk away with all the things she knew now. She would be dead before she could even realize the danger she was in.

"Damon, you need to trust me. I will tell you everything as soon as I can, but this is not just about me. There are people whose safety depends on me, on the secrets I hold. Telling you now, could put those people in danger," Damon brought his eyes back to her, judging the sincerity in her voice. "I know that what you showed me was something precious that your family wanted to keep secret. The fact that you could find it in yourself to entrust such a secret to me, shows how much better than me you are. But now I need you to believe me when I say that, for now, I can't tell you everything there is to know about me."

Damon bit the inside of his cheek, trying to decide if he could trust her again. As much as he believed her apologies, he couldn't forget the pain her rejection had caused him. He had taken a leap of faith in showing her who he was, what he was capable of, and she had thrown that back in his face. How could she ask him to do it again?

"You're asking me to give you my complete trust without giving me any guarantee that you will return it. Why should I trust you?" he asked her, leaning forward in his armchair.

"Because I love you." The simplicity with which she said those words astonished him as much as it did her. What she had been reluctant to admit not even an hour before, had slipped past her lips as easily as ever. Because Enzo had been right. What Damon had done, had been incredible. He would have never done something like that if he didn't love her. Once she realized that, it had been easy to identify what she felt, had always felt, in his company.

"If you can't trust anything else I say, trust that," she told him, leaning close to him and grasping one of his hand, feeling relieved when he didn't pull it away.

The silence that followed seemed eternal.

"Okay," whispered Damon, a small smile gracing his lips.

Elena nodded with a bright smile. The hardest part of their conversation had passed. Things weren't exactly like before, but they were close to it and, for the moment, that was enough. Now, she had to breach the second part of what she wanted to talk about.

"One of the reasons for my inconsiderate reaction," she started, immediately capturing Damon's attention. "Is that there are a lot of things I don't understand about what you showed me. Would you mind explaining them to me?" she tentatively asked.

Damon frowned. He'd never had to explain anything about what he was, the Originals all new what he was capable of. He had no doubt that the ever observant Enzo had figured out most things by himself, always silently present by Elijah's side. If, however, explaining some things to Elena would help in righting their relationship he supposed he could try.

"What do you want to know?"

Elena folded her legs beneath her, adjusting her position while thinking about where to start asking her questions. When she found one that seemed safe enough, she nodded.

"What are you, exactly?" When Damon looked at her confused, she tried to explain herself better. "I mean, are you a warlock?"

"Not exactly," answered her Damon. He tried to think of a way to continue but didn't know how to make her understand. In the end, he decided to ask her what she knew about magic in general.

"It's the power through which witches can do what they want?" She answered him, feeling unsure.

Damon smiled at her words, "It's not like that. Magic comes from the balance of nature. You can say that magic_ is_ nature, and nature is all around us: it's the air you breathe, the threes, the water and so on. But if it were just that, then everyone would be able to use it, right?" Elena nodded at him, showing him that she was listening. "It's like there's a...door that keeps magic locked away, making it impossible for us to reach it. Witches and warlocks are nothing more than humans with the ability to temporarily open that door, accessing magic. I'm not sure why only certain people can do that, I think it has something to do with specific bloodlines. The point is that, using incantations, they can bend nature to their will and make it do what they want, inside certain limits."

"But you don't need that, do you?" asked him Elena. "When you created that fire, you didn't say a word."

"You're right, I don't need that," agreed Damon. "It's like for me that door I talked about, is always open and magic simply flows through me when I want to use it."

"So you can do whatever you want?" Was Damon that powerful?

"I'm not God, Elena. There are things even I can't do."

"How can you do this? No one can use magic," Elena's curiosity was getting stronger and stronger. She was about to finally find out what had happened all those years ago.

Damon leaned his back against the backrest of the armchair. He passed a hand over his lips, pondering how to tell Elena the story that Klaus had told him more than once. The story that still didn't completely convince him.

"I can only tell you what I myself have been told." He felt like it was the right thing to do, to alert her. "Apparently my father was a warlock, a powerful one. The rules of his coven stated that he should have married a witch, to continue the bloodline. He married a human woman, however, and the coven did not appreciate it. They punished him severely and he died soon after that punishment, at least that's what Klaus told me. My mother was destroyed by his death and so decided that she wanted the witches to suffer as much as she did. So, she took away their magic and I guess she gave it to me. Then Klaus found me and, here I am."

Elena frowned, things just didn't add up. "Wait," she intervened. "You said that she was a human woman. How could she take away magic? And what does it mean that she gave it to you?"

"Apparently, she was helped by other witches," said Damon, raising his hands and letting them fall in a sign of resignation. That was the part of the story that simply made no sense and, no matter how many times he'd asked questions about it, none of the Originals had ever given him a satisfying answer. "That's all I know, Elena. I swear and it's not like I had the possibility to go check by myself if it's the truth."

Elena nodded, knowing he was simply telling her what he knew. Still, he had given her a lot of things to think about. There were a lot more pressing questions that she wanted to ask but, for now, they had at least taken a step in the right direction. Tomorrow, they could talk some more. When she saw him stifle a yawn, she realized how late it was. Watching out of the window on her left, she saw that the sky was black, stars shining here and there. She stood up, ready to leave him to his rest.

"Thank you for having faith in me," she told him. "It's getting late so I should probably go now."

Damon jumped to his feet, reaching out with his hand to stop her, "You could stay the night."

"I don't know if that's the right thing to do, Damon." She tried to use a gentle voice, not wanting him to feel rejected once again.

"I just want to hold you since I couldn't these past three days..." He pleaded her.

The sight of those blue eyes looking at her with so many emotions in them, left her no choice. "Okay," she agreed. "But don't get used to this," she joked.

When the two got under the covers of Damon's incredibly soft bed, he enveloped her in his arms, hiding his face against her neck. Before he even realized it, tears where streaming silently down his cheeks taking away with them all the pain, the insecurity and the sense of abandonment he'd felt without Elena. When she felt his tears wetting her shirt, she tugged him closer to her, her fingers immediately entwining in his hair.

"Elena?" he whispered in the dark.

"Hmm?"

"I love you too," he accompanied his words with a tender kiss against the side of her neck.

Elena smiled, burying her nose in his black locks.

"I know."


	13. The Scent Of Smoke

**AN: I am terribly sorry for the late update and for not answering to your reviews. RL has been kicking my ass this week and I've barely had the time to write this chapter. I hope you can forgive me, if you give me the time I'll be sure to answer to all of you this time. Fortunately, Tuesday I will have my last exam so I'll have more time to dedicate to writing.**

**Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!**

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><p>Chapter 13 – The Scent Of Smoke<p>

_It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck._  
>- <em>Charles Caleb Colton - <em>

Elena woke up feeling surrounded by warmth. At first, she couldn't quite understand what she was feeling. Accustomed as she was to sleeping alone, that feeling of warmth was unusual. When she felt an arm tightening around her waist, however, memories of the night before came back to her. She remembered how she and Damon had fallen asleep in each other's arms, how content she'd felt just by being so close to him. Soft puffs of air hit the back of her neck every time Damon breathed out, his heartbeat resonated loudly throughout her body thanks to his chest being pressed against her back.

She took a deep breath, Damon's scent enveloping her. He smelled like trees and fresh air and something that was just him, something that made her think of warm cozy nights by the fireplace, the only sound the soft scratching of pencil against paper. A small smile appeared on her lips. She couldn't deny that, had she that possibility, she would have stayed in Damon's arms for hours on end. She grimaced, knowing that they still had important things to discuss, things that could not be delayed.

With careful movements she turned to face Damon. He looked even more innocent, if it was possible, with those long lashes almost touching his cheeks and his mouth slightly parted. Every once in a while, he let out a soft snore followed by a light twitch of his leg. He was sleeping so peacefully that Elena decided to let him rest for a couple more minutes. With the time she now had, Elena set herself on studying her surroundings. Even though she'd been more than once in Damon's room, she had never really taken the time to observe it.

Right on the opposite wall in front of the canopy bed where they were resting, there were two floor-length double doors, letting the soft light of the dawn stream in. If she strained her sight, she could see the faint white line of the wall delimiting the property. She thought bitterly that Damon had a daily reminder of his impotence when he woke up in the morning, the far away wall being the first thing his mind surely focused on. She hadn't forgotten her promise and, if the crow had reached Alaric like she hoped, then maybe she would be able to keep it sooner than she had anticipated. How Damon would react was another matter entirely.

On both sides of the windows there were tall book-cases. She was sure Damon had read all the books there contained though, judging by the mountain of books by his bedside, his favorites stayed close to him. Facing the windows were the two armchairs, divided by a low coffee table, where they had sat yesterday evening. Elena turned to her left, toward the door that had to lead to the built-in bathroom. She could not see much from where she was but she was pretty sure that his bathroom far surpassed hers. When she made to look around some more, she noticed something on the wall next to the entrance door.

She squinted, trying to focus on what had caught her eyes. On the wall there were what looked like faint marks, almost as if someone had been keeping track of something. Then she realized what they were: someone had marked Damon's growth on the wall. An image of Rebekah trying to hold still a wriggling Damon, while putting a mark on the wall, came unbidden to her mind.

She turned to her right. Close by there was a table with a computer on top of it and sheets of paper scattered around. She caught a glimpse of vague outlines of figures and musical notes. Underneath all that mess, she noticed a couple of art-books. Elena stretched out her left arm to grab a couple of drawings, wanting to study some of Damon's raw compositions. As soon as she moved, she heard Damon stirring behind her evidently disturbed by her movements. She let herself fall back into bed, turning toward him to greet him as soon as he opened his eyes.

Damon woke up and groggily looked around before his eyes stopped on Elena. When he saw her beside him in bed, he smiled at her, his arm unconsciously tightening around her waist. He stretched under the covers like a big cat, relishing in the popping sounds coming from his joints. Elena silently watched him, waiting for him to finish him morning 'rituals'. When he finally relaxed back into bed, he looked at her with content eyes moving a lock of her hair behind her ear with the arm previously leaning over her waist, the other still tucked underneath his pillow.

"Hi," he greeted her with a small smile.

"Hi, back," she answered him, grasping his hand in hers and entwining their fingers between them.

Damon inched forward, silently asking her if it was okay for him to kiss her. She knew she shouldn't give him permission. Things between them were still unclear, there were lots of questions she still had to ask him. The fact that he was asking, though, after the two weeks in which he had grown accustomed to simply kiss her whenever he wanted, did not sit right with her. She didn't like this hesitant Damon and so leaned toward him. It was a brief kiss, nothing more than a brush of their lips against each other, but it was enough.

After their kiss they simply laid in bed, enjoying each other's presence. Elena propped herself up on her elbow, her hand supporting her head, and simply observed him. Damon was playing with their joined hands, caressing her knuckles and sometimes pressing his lips against them. Soon, however, he became fascinated by her daylight ring. He rubbed his thumb over the lapis lazuli as if to polish it, admiring the deep blue of the stone. When he started to turn the ring around on her finger, she tensed a bit. After all, if he accidentally removed the ring, she would start to burn in a matter of seconds. Not the greatest start of a day.

"It's beautiful," he stated, his eyes never leaving the ring on her finger.

"It is," she agreed. "It's a family heirloom. If I remember correctly, it was once my great-great-great grandmother's or something. It was passed down through generations of Gilbert women, until it became mine. I'm lucky it has a lapis lazuli stone, otherwise it wouldn't have been turned into a daylight ring."

Damon hummed in agreement with her. Suddenly he raised his eyes to her, excitement present in them. When Elena raised an eyebrow in silent question, he said, "I have a ring like this, too."

"Really?" she lowered her eyes to look at his hand, already knowing that there would be no ring on it.

Damon noticed it and chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't wear it, it's not my style."

"Well," drew out Elena. "Where is it? You can't just tell me you have a ring like this without actually showing it to me."

"It's in that old chest by the wall," he nodded his head in the direction of the piece of furniture.

Elena turned to look over her shoulder. When she spotted the chest, she made to get out of bed to go rummage through it until she found his ring. Damon, however, had other plans. He tugged her back to bed making her land on his chest, his right arm now under her. He raised his left hand and, with a rapid flick of wrist, the chest opened and the ring flew toward him gently landing on his open palm. With a proud smirk, he presented her the ring.

Elena slapped his chest playfully, failing to hide the amused smile on her lips, "You're such a show-off."

She reached for his ring, taking it into her hand and turning slightly toward the right so that the light streaming in through the window could illuminate it for her. She stared at it with wide eyes, not sure if what she seeing was actually real. The ring on her hand was big and heavy and, the only other definition coming to her mind, tacky. She could see why Damon didn't want to wear it. There was a big lapis lazuli stone surmounted by what looked like a silvery eagle (or a stylized floral composition, she wasn't sure), a carved D in the center of it and, below it, the words _pro infinito_. It was a pretty unusual ring and not the most fashionable, to be honest. That was not what shook her, however. As soon as her eyes had set on it, she had gotten the feeling that she'd already seen that ring. Scratch that, she was sure she'd seen it. Stefan had a ring just like that.

She turned it into her hand, studying it from every perspective. Nothing changed. Apart from the carved D, an S in Stefan's ring, the two rings were identical. The fact that the two carved letters were also the initials of their owners, was something Elena immediately noticed. She tried to remember if Stefan had ever told her where he'd gotten the ring, if someone maybe gave it to him or if he had bought it. Nothing came to her mind. To be honest, she'd never really cared too much for his ring. Since he'd become a vampire only six years before, when the witches had already lost their magic, she had never even bothered to ask him if the stone on his ring was a lapis lazuli. She was sure, however, that his ring was just like the one resting on the palm of her hand.

"I know," Damon's voice startled her, making her turn toward him. "It's so tacky that you remained speechless."

"Where did you get this?" she asked, holding the ring between them with two fingers.

Damon raised an eyebrow, surprised by the urgency in her voice. "Elijah gave it to me. He said it was something my mother wanted to give me. Since she never got to do it, he thought he could take it and give it to me when I was older. He wanted me to have something that could connect me to my family," he lightly skimmed over the ring with his index finger.

"Why couldn't she give it to you herself?" From what he'd told her the previous night, it sounded like is mother was alive and Klaus had, sort of, taken him when he was a child.

Damon grimaced, "Yeah, I kind of forgot to tell you this," Elena turned toward him, giving him her attention. "My mother is dead. Apparently she died giving birth to me."

"Oh God, Damon," the words fell naturally from her lips, even tough she knew nothing could really deliver some sort of comfort to him.

She sat up in bed, her left hand going for his. She dragged it out from underneath his pillow, intertwining their fingers and squeezing tightly. There wasn't much she could do for him, she knew that. She remembered how she felt when her parents died, how she shunned every bit of human contact because she was so tired of hearing people say 'I'm sorry for you loss'. They did it because it was customary to say so, maybe some of them really felt sorry, but she didn't care. She didn't want their pity, she wanted to be left alone. Damon wasn't exactly in her situation, but he had to feel sad when he thought about his real parents.

"It's okay, Elena," he returned the grip on his hand, sitting up with his back against the headboard. "I never met them so it's not like I get really sad about their deaths. I mean, sometimes I ask myself what it would have been like had they still been alive. Would they have been great parents or not, would we have been a happy family. Sometimes I try to imagine if I look more like my father or like my mother."

Elena listened carefully to him. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to never meet you parents, to never know what they even looked like. She had only had sixteen years with hers, but they had been sixteen great years. She had so many memories of them, so many things she could cling to when she felt nostalgic. Damon didn't have that possibility, he only lived by what others told him. He only knew what living with the Mikaelsons was like, they were his only family as far as he was concerned.

"I'm not sure what I feel when I think about them," Damon had a far away look in his eyes, almost as if he were trying to see beyond time, to a place where his parents were still alive and they lived like a normal family. "It all feels...'distant' somehow, if it makes any sense," he looked at her with questioning eyes.

Elena smiled at him reassuringly, "It does make sense. How can you miss something you never had?" Damon nodded at her, pleased that she understood his reasoning. "So, you've always lived with Klaus?" Elena took the opportunity to get to know more about his past, about him. She figured she could start with an innocent question, working her way up to the hard one she needed to know the answer to.

Damon nodded as an answer to her question, "Klaus took me in right after my mother died. It wasn't easy but they made it work," he talked with a fond smile on his lips. "Rebekah took care of me like I really was her son. She never wanted to be a vampire, you know? She wanted to be human, to have a family of her own. When Klaus gave me to her, she finally got her chance to be a mother."

"It looks to me like she did a great job," Elena had always refrained from judging the blonde Original. She wasn't the most approachable woman, always guarded and suspicious. She figured that spending a thousand years with Klaus could do that to anyone. Hearing the fondness in Damon's words, how Rebekah only wanted the chance to live a normal life, made Elena reconsider her. Maybe she just wanted the chance to love, like anyone else.

"She did," agreed Damon. "Klaus and Elijah too. I know it seems difficult to understand, but they've been a great family for me. Elijah taught me how to play the piano, the violin and he initiated me to the pleasure of reading a good book. Klaus showed me how to draw and how to find beauty around me."

Elena found it difficult to believe that Klaus could find beauty in anything but power. She didn't voice her thoughts, tough, not wanting to disrespect Damon or his memories.

"And Rebekah?" she asked, pulling away from her previous thoughts.

Damon smiled at her, "Rebekah taught me how to treat a woman with the due respect," he said, bringing her hand to his lips and softly kissing the back of it. When Elena raised an eyebrow at her, disbelieving, he chuckled. "She thought it could be useful one day," he defended himself.

Elena shook her head, incapable of hiding her smile, "How can I not agree with her?" She leaned forward, kissing him on the lips. She briefly deepened their connection, smiling when she heard his low moan, before pulling away.

She looked him deep in the eye, caressing the back of his hand with her thumb. She didn't want to ruin the relaxed atmosphere they were in, but she had delayed the inevitable for long enough. She needed her answers, and she needed them now. Once she had his version of the facts, she could finally decide how to proceed, not only in regards to their relationship, but also in regards to her mission. If Klaus had used Damon to do his dirty work without telling him the truth, then it would be easier for her to move past what the raven-haired man had done. If not, complicated would not be a strong enough word to describe what they had.

"Hey," Damon, having noticed her sudden dull mood, pulled her attention to him. "What's going on?"

Elena bit her lower lip, turning fully toward him and crossing her legs Indian style. She didn't let go of his hand, needing it to anchor herself. She took a deep breath, knowing full well that there wasn't an easy way of approaching the subject, before mentally giving herself a little push to do what she had to.

"I need to ask you something," she started tentatively. "Something that I wanted to ask you yesterday."

Damon sat straighter, feeling that they were about to discuss something important, "What do you need to ask me?"

"Nineteen years ago, when Klaus came out of nowhere and proclaimed himself king, those who did not bow down to him died soon after," Elena saw his eyes darken at the memory. "The vampires burned in the sun and the werewolves...they couldn't control their transformation anymore."

She paused, giving him the time to say something if he wanted to. Damon had lowered his eyes, his hand slack in hers. He looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else. She couldn't exactly blame him, she didn't want to have this conversation either. However, she needed to know what had happened. This was the biggest obstacle between them. She knew that, when the time came, they would be able to face any problem that might arise.

Since he didn't seem to want to say anything, Elena went on with what she had to say, "At first we thought that that had been Klaus but, knowing what I know now, that was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes," he whispered, his eyes still low.

She nodded to herself, his words confirming her theory, not that there was another possibility. "Why?" she asked him. "Why did you do it? Did you know what you were doing or..." she trailed off, waiting his response.

Damon sighed heavily. He threw away the covers and sat mirroring her stance. He grasped her free hand and looked her resolutely in the eyes, seemingly find the strength to answer her. Gone was the soft look in his eyes, before her, now, was a man ready to defend his actions until the end. Elena couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

"Before I answer your question, you need to know something. What my mother did, taking away everyone's magic, let's just say that my father's coven did not take her actions lightly. What she did is something that they cannot forget or forgive. Had she been alive, they would have taken matters into their own hands and would have dealt with her."

The way he said 'dealt', made her think that he was not talking about a simple punishment. No, they probably would have killed her for what she did. From what she knew about witches, Elena was aware that some covens were pretty intense when it came to following the rules. But then again, stealing magic was probably something that all the covens would have punished in the same way. She still did not understand what Damon was trying to tell her, though.

"Since my mother is not here anymore, that punishment falls onto her nearest relative. Me," the whole time he spoke, a bitter smile twisted his mouth. It was clear that he despised being held responsible for something he couldn't have avoided.

"But how is this connected to what happened nineteen years ago?" Elena felt like they were avoiding the subject and she did not like it.

Damon raised a hand in a calming gesture, "I'm getting to it. For the first six years of my life, hit-men hired by my father's coven tried to kill me. They seem to think that if I die then magic will go back to all of them. Those people that Klaus asked me to kill," he gestured toward her. "They were in on it."

For a moment, Elena thought she was going to laugh in his face. What he had just told her was the most absurd thing she'd ever heard. She could believe that his father's coven wanted him dead. After all, the blonde vampire she had fought not even two weeks ago, had said that she had to kill _only_ Damon. That part was probably true. She was pretty sure, however, that those people Klaus had him kill, lots of them who she knew personally, had done nothing wrong. They certainly had not been hit-men who were supposed to kill a six-year-old boy the didn't even know existed.

Meanwhile, Damon continued talking, "I mean, I'm not saying that I liked doing it. I loathe the very thought of hurting someone, you can imagine how I felt about...killing people," he spat out the word as if it had been lodged in his throat. "But they wanted to hurt me, hurt my family. I couldn't let them do it, Elena. What was I supposed to do?" he looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to understand his reasons.

Elena didn't know what to say. She could feel anger rising inside of her. A small part of it was directed at Damon, for blindly believing everything Klaus told him. The majority of it, though, was directed at the Original. He had taken an impressionable little boy, lied to him and made him do something horrible. He had been clever too in his lies, she hated to admit it, because the lie he'd told Damon ended up becoming the truth. She couldn't deny that there was someone who wanted Damon dead, she had seen it with her own eyes. The child Damon had been at the time, surely wouldn't have questioned Klaus's words.

"What if they were only innocent people, Damon? What if they had nothing to do with your father's coven?" she tried to test him, to see if Klaus had completely convinced him or if he had some doubts.

"They weren't." The conviction in his voice broke her heart. "Klaus wouldn't lie to me, Elena. Why would he? He loves me and he would never make me do something like that without a good reason." His voice had taken an angry tone, she clearly had offended him with her insinuation.

She needed to think about her next words. She couldn't simply tell him the truth that Klaus had hidden from him. She would need undeniable proofs if she wanted Damon to believe her. As it was, she could only play along with the story Klaus had created. That didn't mean that she could not instill doubts in Damon. Maybe if she could get him to question the Original's words, he would start to see things in a different way.

"What about this?" she raised her right hand, showing him the tattoo. "How do you justify killing the members of the Guard Corp?"

Damon's eyes turned to stone. He jumped out of bed and begun pacing back and forth in front of it. He looked furious and Elena wondered if, perhaps, she had pushed her luck too far. When he turned to look at her, his eyes were terrifying.

"One of the first Guards we had, before the tattoos, tried to choke me in my sleep when I was eight. We found out that he had infiltrated this Mansion just to kill me. The tattoo serves the purpose of scaring off anyone who could potentially harm me," he spoke in an even tone that contrasted with the rage she could see building up inside of him.

She decided to stop questioning him, before going too far hence losing his trust. She slowly got out of bed and approached him. He looked at her despondently, not sure if he wanted her this close after her horrible insinuations on his family. Elena tentatively touched his shoulder, turning him toward her. She stepped closer to him, cupping his cheek with her free hand.

"I'm sorry if I upset you, Damon," she said in a soothing voice. "I just wanted the truth."

Damon didn't push her hand away, choosing instead to lean in her touch. "You didn't have to go around throwing horrible accusations at the man who gave me everything," his voice was hard, still not over the anger he'd felt at her words.

"I know and I'm sorry," she told him, her thumb gently moving over his skin in a calming gesture. "Can you forgive me?"

Damon's lips twitched slightly, as if he was trying to hide a smile, before he rolled his eyes. "Just don't say things like that again, okay?"

Elena smiled at him, nodding her consent. Instinctly, she took his left hand and slipped his ring on his middle finger. Damon looked at her questioningly.

Elena shrugged her shoulders, "You should wear it. For your mother."

Damon said nothing, wiggling his fingers to get used to the metal against his previously bare digit.

They spent the rest of the day cementing their truce. Elena's mind kept going back to what Damon had told her. A part of her was sort of glad that he had not done those things conscientiously. Klaus had lied to him, making him believe that he was doing all those things to protect his family when the reality couldn't be farther from it. The other part of her felt disgusted at the lengths Klaus would go to to consolidate his power. He had twisted a child's mind to make him do what he could not.

When at dinner they sat down to eat with Damon, Elena avoided looking at the Hybrid. She knew that if she were to see him now, she would probably jump on him to try and kill him. She concentrated, instead, on Damon and his disgruntled expression when Rebekah looked pointedly at the Brussels sprouts he had pushed aside. She could clearly see their mother son relationship, now. It brought her some sort of new respect for the blonde vampire, though she still found her a little too snobbish for her tastes.

"Where are Elijah and Enzo?" asked Damon in another attempt to procrastinate the moment in which he'd have to eat those green things.

"They won't eat with us this evening," answered Klaus, amusement in his voice. "They're busy."

"Doing what?" Elena focused not to choke on her cup of blood at the glare Rebekah directed at Damon.

"Don't worry and eat your veggies," Klaus cut short Damon's attempt at conversation.

After dinner, Elena and Damon went outside for a stroll through the garden. After their tense morning, they simply enjoyed the tranquility between them now that they had discussed what they needed. They laid down on the grass, looking at the stars. Damon was telling her about the constellations he could see in the sky, which to her looked like a bunch of stars in no logical order. He was telling her the story of Castor and Pollux when Elena suddenly sat up, her nose in the air.

"What?" he asked her, sitting up beside her.

Elena sniffed the air a couple of times, turning in the direction of the Mansion invisible behind the trees that surrounded them. She furrowed her brows, not understanding what she was smelling.

"Something's burning."

She stood up, Damon doing the same a couple of seconds later, and started walking in the direction of the Mansion. She could feel Damon's agitation behind her and, she couldn't lie, felt that same anxiety building up inside of her. Her instincts were screaming at her that something really wrong was happening. A question remained, tough.

_What was going on?_

* * *

><p>In the basement, Elijah cleaned his bloodied hand in a rag offered to him by Enzo. The two of them had been interrogating the blonde vampire, who had tried to kill Damon, for hours on end. However, she refused to tell them who had sent her to them. She was chained to the wall, arms spread to the side, head bent low and legs that could barely keep her standing. Her clothes were covered in blood, though no visible marks could be seen on her skin.<p>

"For the last time," said Elijah in a conversational voice. "Just tell us who sent you and we will stop this."

Either she didn't hear him or she simply decided to ignore his words. The only sound coming from her, were her ragged breaths. She moved slightly, the chains rattling against the wall. That was about it, though. She did nothing else.

"Do you want me to try?" intervened Enzo, who was leaning against the wall just outside the cell where the blonde vampire was being held. He did not like being there, the dark spaces reminding him too much of the Augustine basement.

"No, I think I can handle this."

Elijah grabbed a wooden stake, dragging its point along the vampire's arm. She hissed, blood dripping from the long gash that was already healing along her arm. When Elijah stopped and looked her in the eye, she glared at him. A slow, mad, smile started to appear on her face. The Original raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're not getting anything from me," she said in a raw voice. "And even if you did, you'd never get to use the information I'd give you."

Elijah leaned closer to her, "What do you mean?"

She chuckled, "You'll soon be dead, all of you."

After her words, she turned her head to the right exposing her neck. The older vampire frowned, not understanding her gesture. When she moved her shoulder, though, he saw what she wanted to show him. With the fingers of his right hand, Elijah moved the hem of her shirt exposing a tattoo of an eagle with wings spread and the roman number two in the middle of it. The two lines above and underneath the number, though, were slightly curved signaling that that was not simply a number.

"Is that..." Enzo, who had gotten closer, trailed off.

"Yes," answered Elijah "it's the same tattoo that the guard who tried to kill Damon when he was eight had." He looked at the still chuckling woman, "I know only two families that would use an eagle and this particular symbol resembling a roman number two: the Salvatores and the Gemini."

"It doesn't matter!" Exclaimed the woman, "We've already won! You think you're the only one with magical tattoos?"

Right then, Enzo sniffed the air, his head turned toward the entrance of the basement. The smell of smoke was in the air.

"Elijah," he spoke the elder's name, calling for his attention.

"I know," Elijah had already smelled the pungent odor of smoke. "Go find Damon. Keep him safe."

Enzo nodded, sprinting up the stairs in search of the human. Elijah turned toward the woman who was now laughing like a maniac. He twisted his mouth in a disgusted grimace, making the woman laugh even more.

"You think this will be enough to defeat us?" he asked her rhetorically. "You're clearly mad if you think that we will lose against you."

With a swift movement of his arm, he plunged the stake in the woman's chest, ending her life.

* * *

><p><strong>As you can see, I introduced the Gemini coven but I will not follow canon when it comes to them. Their story will be changed and Kai will only be mentioned, he will not be a part of this story. I don't even think I'll use Jo, Liv and Luke.<strong>

**I have created a poll in my profile page where you can vote for who you want Caroline to be with, since I still haven't decide who I want her to end up with. Be sure to check it out!**


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